Daughter of Iris
by demigodstories194
Summary: A son of Kronos isn't accepted at Camp Half-Blood, but a daughter of Iris will try to help him! Comment on the story to get your idea in the fanfic! (You get credit) KEEP CALM AND LOVE PERCY JACKSON! Review and Favorite if you enjoy! :) - Daughter of Iris - Daughter of Iris - Daughter of Iris - Daughter of Iris - Daughter of Iris - Daughter of Iris - Daughter of Iris -
1. The Horse-dudes?

**Hey guys! This is our first fanfiction so please don't judge too harshly (constructive criticism is appreciated)! What we are doing is that you get to choose what happens in the next chapter, so comment and your idea might be used! Disclaimer: The Percy Jackson characters belong to Rick Riordan. (we are adding some original characters though)**

 _Aria's POV_

The horse dudes had been chasing me for days now. Whether they wanted to kill me or party, I wasn't sure. I knew that I would eventually tire, and the "things" were gaining on me by the second. I glanced up, and I saw a run-down gas station. Literally, the convenience store looked like it had been around since the Ancient Egyptians. I decided to stop for a respite. I have to admit, looking back, that wasn't my brightest moment. I ran into the bathroom, and locking the door behind me, I jerked around. I was startled by the unrecognizable face in the mirror.

The face I saw looked grungy, and her mascara was smeared due to too much exposure to the elements. Her rose-gold hair was caked with dirt, but her braid somehow still hadn't fallen out. To sum it all up, she looked just about as dirty and brazen as the horse-men. I realized I was the girl in the mirror. I heard a large bang, a few crashes, and a young girl screaming. Silently, I prayed that wasn't the same girl I saw riding her bike outside. If anything happened to the innocent child, I would be overcome with guilt since I had led them here.

I gently opened the door, and I saw the horse-things breaking down the front door, with a mad, but unintelligent gleam in their eyes. Did they not realize all they had to do was turn the doorknob? I mean, they had arms! The door finally gave way and they came barreling through. It would have looked impressive, but they still were running, so they hit the opposite wall. "Ah ha!" the largest one yelled with triumph. I pegged him as their leader almost immediately.

"Where is Ariana! I want to make her my wife and queen! Show me the daughter of Iris, and you will be rewarded." The cashier quickly pointed at me, the only person in the store. I squeaked, "It's Aria." "Same thing," the horse-man said with an embarrassed laugh. I have to say, he did do a pretty good job of making himself look dumber than he had originally. His wife though? That wasn't part of the job description. "Why me?" I piped out hysterically. He replied, saying, "Well, the last girl I tried to marry - I think her name was Atalanta - she shot me in the heart. But, alas, I am alive and well again - thank you for your concern. Since she didn't work out, I decided to go for a weaker prey, like yourself." "Jeez, what a charmer,"I muttered to myself. Apparently the things had good hearing, because he looked at me and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "I know."

"Honestly, I feel so lucky that you chose ME to be your bride," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Apparently, the leader was either really dumb, or just not paying attention, because he just nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, it is a great honor to even meet King Centerus." I couldn't help starting to giggle at his unfortunate name. Maybe I was really starting to become completely mad. I could just imagine King Centerus starting to sing the American national anthem.

Suddenly, I started to get dizzy, and I realized that I should have taken my inhaler 30 minutes ago. Oops. My bad.

"WAIT!" A new voice said from behind Mr. Horsey. Two guys disintegrated into a fine yellow powder, and the powder slowly fell to the floor. The other centaur and I watched in a horrified and surprised shock. "Nobody is getting married today," the mysterious boy said with a threatening glare, daring someone to oppose him. Centerus froze, and then he to turned into dust, a spear point piercing his chest.

"Sorry bout that. I'm hoping you weren't actually going to marry him, but if you were, you might have to postpone the wedding to until he reforms.." He sheathed his golden spear, now caked in almost as much dust as my hair.

"Thanks," I said, putting out my hand for him to shake.I felt that since he saved my life I should be polite. "I'm Aria." He just looked at my hand, as if he had never shaken someone's hand before, and plainly said "A.j."I assumed that was the boy's name, but by the way he said it, it sounded more like a cough. He cleared his throat and said, with a clearer and confident voice, "A.j." His name sounded kind of like R.J, my cousin. I decided not to think of him that way since my experience with R.J had been less than pleasant. Far less. I remembered the embarrassing prank that he had pulled. I almost changed schools because of it, but my friends talked me out of it. I chose to be friends with all the least popular people, from gamer geeks to reading nerds, but Mikalay, the most popular girl in the grade, loved me. I smiled at the thought.

A.j seemed nice enough, but I had learned to realize that when someone did a nice thing for you, they almost always expected something back. A.j stared at me blankly, and I realized that he was waiting for me to reply to a question I didn't hear. My face burned, and I tried to not sound stupid when I finally said, "Math." He looked at me like I was crazy, and I couldn't blame him. "Uh….I asked what you saw." Oh. What did he mean? Well, I saw crazy centaurs chasing me, and I told him as much. He didn't call me crazy, or walk away. His olive eyes regarded me.

"Centerus said you were a daughter of Iris. I need to get you to camp." He said "camp" with such disgust, I wasn't sure I wanted to go there. "Ummm..slow down. I need to go home, I have school, my friends, my dad and his garden shop, Aaron…"

"Who is Aaron?"

"My boyfriend"

"Oh…" I swear, his face fell when I said that, but he was quick and hid his feelings.

 **I hope that you liked our first chapter! We will probably have another chapter out tomorrow. Comment on either our demigod_stories_194 instagram or our thegreekgamers_194 instagram. (or just on this fanfiction) I hope that you enjoyed!**


	2. We Make a Grave Mistake

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading this fanfiction, and I hope that you enjoy. Comment if you have an idea for next chapter! You will get a shoutout at the beginning.\**

 **Shoutout for Party Ponies idea: totallylillypad**

Aria's POV

"So, if I could just call my dad to pick me up…" I took out my phone.

"NO!" Aj knocked my phone out of my hand. "You are going to attract monsters. And you _are_ going to camp. It's the only safe place for people like us….." His voice trailed of.

"Where is it? And if it's the only safe place for people like "us", then why are not there?"

"Let's just say I know where I'm wanted. But they'll _love_ you." A.j. rolled his eyes with disgust.

"And you think this because…?" I said with obvious doubt in my voice. Not everyone accepted me. Sure, at my school I was considered "popular," but there were always those people who would laugh and smile with me, but then I would see them try to cover up the glare they had pointed at me. "They love your mom, so they will love you. It's all about the parentage," Aj said with…..was that envy? I couldn't imagine why he would want to be me, but by the way he said it, I got the impression that he had first-hand experience with being rejected. I decided to interrogate him later, but I didn't want him to think I was the nosy type.

Still, why did I even care what he thought? At school, I was known for hanging around the people no one liked, paying attention in class even though it made people think I was serious all the time, and I didn't bad-mouth the teachers - like everyone "popular" did. All I knew was that even if people didn't accept Aj, I would, and I would help other people see that he was a good person, no matter who his parent was. (Awww)

"Well, I still don't understand why I have to go to this camp," I stated. Aj just sighed, and started talking as though I was three. "Well, you know that you have never met your biological mom," he started to explain. At the speed he was talking, that short sentence took him about 15 seconds. I was going to get very annoyed at this very soon. "Yes, yes I know. Now get to the interesting part before I fall asleep." He glared at me and, going five times as slow as before, continued explaining. "I...am...so...very...sorry...to...bore...you..,but...AUHHH," he took a LONG yawn, which then made me start to yawn too. "My...bad. Ok I can't keep talking at that pace. Basically, the Greek myths are real, and both of us are children of the gods. Well, kind of. I'm the son of Kr- a titan."

I couldn't help but wonder who he was going to say he was the son of. If I knew my Greek mythology better, I would maybe be able to figure it out. Sadly, I basically only knew a little bit about the Olympians. "So who am I the daughter of?" I asked. I couldn't believe I was actually taking this seriously. I almost expected him to start laughing yelling, "I GOT YOU! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Unfortunately, his face expression was dead serious. "Well, let's get you to camp," he said after an awkward moment of silence.

I did notice that he never answered my question. Did he just not know? Maybe he told me and I just forgot. I seem to say the words "I just forgot" on test days at school. All at one moment, I remembered what Centerus had said: "Show me the daughter of Iris." Iris…..and what goddess was that again? Maybe I was even worse at Greek mythology than I thought. "Who is Iris again?" I asked without warning. Aj stared at me as if I were an idiot. Maybe I was, but that's ok. "It's better to have people think that you're stupid than to open your mouth and prove it," Aj muttered to himself. "I have good ears!" Truthfully, I had no idea what he had said, but I assumed that it wasn't complementary.

"Let's get going before we attract more monsters. You have a strong scent for a daughter of Iris, and mixed with me…." He shook his head in dismay, "it's a wonder we're not dead yet."

"Gee….thanks for making me feel safe." I muttered under my breath. A.j. said to himself "Should I call for a satyr or put her in a box and ship her there?" He said the second one loud enough for me to hear. I rolled my eyes at A.j. and he just laughed. I just _loved_ how this guy felt like he could say _anything_ about me.

As we "let's go to Starbucks!" were slowly making our way to camp, about a dozen monsters shadowed us. They didn't seem to eager to move forward, but finally, one stupid monster ran forward. A.j didn't even flinch. He just stabbed his sword into the poor monster. The monster didn't die immediately, and he had time to say, "I'm...ssssso...sssssorry…...don't…...take….revenge….on….my….family." Finally, the snake-monster-lady died with a shriek. Did monsters normally say sorry after they tried to kill you? I could just imagine sitting down with one, drinking a cup of tea. Then the monster would say, in a British accent, "I'm so sorry to inconvenience you, but I have to kill you now. Would you like one more crumpet and another cup of tea before you die?"

I started giggling hysterically, which then turned into me bawling, "It's not fair! My life is over!" A.j gave me a weird look. I have to admit, I sounded like your typical teenager. Next I'll be asking to go get a caramel latte from Starbucks. Man, that did sound pretty good right now though.

After two days, we arrived in New York City. A.j. whistled and a taxi pulled over to the curb. He handed me a roll of cash. I was thinking like #RichGirlMoments. I'm gonna hit Starbucks! And then I'll go to McD's and get my nails done at the mall and go shopping at Nordstrom and…...Like #BLESSED (author's note: LOL SORRY WE HAD TO ADD THAT IN XD)

I thought A.j. was coming with me until he said, "It was nice meeting you, Ariana- I mean Aria." Like #WHAT?! because I had assumed he was coming to camp with me. I also can't say that I wasn't upset when he called me Ariana. Like, who does that bruh? We had been traveling with each other for almost 4 days, and he still didn't know my name? Sure, we hadn't talked _that_ much, but I assumed he knew my name!

I was just about to pick up a big rock and throw it at his head, when I saw him looking at me with a stupid grin on his face. He knew my name was Aria the whole time! I'll kill him! I got into the taxi cab, and I said, "You see that boy over there? Can you drive next to him?" The driver nodded, and then he turned the car around. I rolled the window down and yelled to A.j saying, "I forgot to give you something. Come over here!" He slowly walked over, and came about a foot away from my window. I opened the car door, hitting him in the face. "OWWWW!" While he was stunned, I pushed him into the car. I barely had closed the door before I told the driver, "Drive."

I was glad A.j didn't get knocked out because then I wouldn't know where to tell the driver to go. A.j glared at, and then he tried to make a great escape by opening the door and jumping out. I laughed because I had already told the driver to lock his door. Did the driver think I was kidnapping? Probably. Fortunately for me, he seemed half-drunk. Wait, maybe that wasn't so great for me….(I am not promoting drunk-driving! NEVER do it!) The driver pulled up to the spot that A.j told him to go, and he said sleepily, "Are you sure this is the right place? Nothing but hills….." With that, we gave him his money (he just put it in his mouth), and walked to the place that I could clearly see was a camp.

"So normal people can't see "magical" stuff?" I asked Aj. He still glared daggers at me, but he nodded.

"Mist." That was all he said. I didn't understand, but I don't think I was meant mto.

"Oookay, that was helpful."

"The Mist makes mortals see anything but the truth. To the mortals, those centaurs probably just looked like robbers." I said that I understood, but I'm not sure I did.

"Go on," A.j. said, making pushing hand gestures. I pushed him and he almost fell down the hill lol. "You're coming with."

We walked down to the camp, with A.j trying to escape every minute. I grabbed his arm so that he wouldn't get away. We got to a weird blue barn-looking thing lol, and I noticed a guy in a wheelchair. It wasn't the guy who bothered me, but it was who he was talking to. The things looked like Centerus and his posse, minus the horns. They were wearing bright neon shirts that said "#YOLO unless you are a Greek monster" on them. I screamed, and A.j saw where I was looking. He unsheathed his sword and gave it to me. Then, he got out his spear and charged at the centaurs. I didn't really know how to use a sword, but I slashed at the monsters. We had disintegrated about 10 of them 20 when the man in the wheelchair yelled, "STOP!" At that point, the other centaur had gotten there bows to shoot us, but at the man's word, they stopped. So did we.

"How dare you kill my brothers," the man said to us.

"Um, how can you be related to them…..you're a man?" After I said that, he stepped out of his wheelchair to reveal his true form. The man had a human top half, but his bottom part was of a white stallion. I stepped back.

I had finally now realized that there were two types of centaurs: the good and the bad. Well, now I had both groups hating me. Joy. At least the leader had stopped them from murdering us. "By the way, I'm Chiron." The man said it like he assumed I would know who he was. I just stared at him, and he sighed and said, "It's sad how little the modern people know about Greek mythology."

"I'm guessing your a half-blood" Chiron put out his hand and I shook it.

"Aria, daughter of Iris." I'm just asking, why would anyone name their kid after an eye part?

"Ahhh, you've brought her here A.j. So how do we know we can trust her? After all, she did come with you," he said, continuing, "But I do believe in judging someone based on their actions - uh over time actions. You of course, have already had yours." I didn't know what Chiron was talking about, but they had obviously met before.

A.j hung his head in shame and muttered, "That was a long time ago…." Chiron didn't look like he thought any better of A.j, but either way, I was his friend. "He saved me from monsters," I said in his defense. I would've said centaurs, but I didn't want to bring up the point that we had just murdered ten of them.

"Does saving one person make up for killing 20?" Chiron asked. I shook my head, but I just couldn't believe that A.j would kill people other than monsters.

A.j's POV

Did Chiron really have to go into the fact that I had killed people? He might have just made my only friend hate me. Sure, I was on Kronos's ship, the Princess Andromeda. What can you expect? I would turn against my father? No, I don't like him, but I couldn't go against my dad. That would just be wrong. And come on, Chiron's a son of Kronos too. He didn't know that I was, but I have no intention of telling him. Brothers? No thanks.

 **I hope that you guys liked this chapter! Sorry for all the weird Starbucks and hashtag stuff, we were kind of crazy today lol. Comment what you think next chapter should be about!**


	3. A Message and the Girl

**Hey guys! We hope that you like chapter 3 of "Daughter of Iris." Comment if you have an idea for next chapter! (You get a shoutout at the beginning of the chapter)**

 **Shoutouts:**

 **Luke - the first one to review this fanfiction so THANK YOU!**

 **jacklynhinzman - the first one to follow and favorite the fanfic so THANKS!**

 **And of course, the brilliant people who had the idea for this chapter: our brains.**

 **BRAVO!**

A.j's POV

"Well….I better get going. Bye." the only reason I'd come this far was Aria.

"So soon?" Chiron said. He didn't sound very disappointed.

"A.j., no!" Aria gripped my hand harder, and my heart skipped a beat. Heat rose up to my face. I'm not quite sure why I started to blush, but I just hoped that it looked better than I thought it was. "Can we talk Aria?"

"Okay." We walked inside the blue barn, which Chiron referred to as the Big House

"Aria, do you know my last name? It's Castellan. I don't belong here."

"Nothing is wrong with your last name!"

"You clearly don't know what happened…..let's keep it that way."

Aria looked at me, clearly wanting an explanation. She also looked disappointed, which broke my heart. I wish I could see inside of her head. My eyes grew wet, so I swiftly turned around and acted like nothing was up. I hoped that just because she knew there was something strange about me, she would possibly continue to be my friend. "Wishful thinking," I chided myself for being so hopeful. "What was that?" Aria asked. I hadn't realized she heard me, so I passed it off as a cough.

Aria looked at me with obvious disbelief, but she was to polite to insinuate that I might have been lying. Unfortunately, I felt like my guilty face expression told it all. Gosh, I thought to myself, I hate her. She's too understanding and I can't lie to her. With her being all nice to me, I would almost feel bad if I said something rude. Yep, I said ALMOST. Being nice is not as interesting as being rude. Or as easy. Or as fun. Besides, it could cover up my feelings...not that I have any. Why are you looking at me like that? I'm totally telling the truth. 100%

"A.j, it's fine. I understand." Aria put her hand on my arm. I fought the urge to say no, you don't. She didn't get people being rude after one TINY mistake. (well, in my opinion it was tiny) I was so sick of being nice, but Aria…she had kept me around for this long, and that is true talent. Honestly, even my own family got sick of me after about 1 hour. The thought of my family made me dizzy. I couldn't believe told her my last name. If she found out…

Aria glanced at me quickly, - at least I thought that was what happened - and she started to blush. Me, being as stupid as I am, just smiled. She wouldn't meet my eyes though. Was it something I said? Aria didn't - couldn't - look at me for the next 10 minutes. Maybe it only felt that way, but I enjoyed talking to her, and the sudden stop made me uncomfortable.

"So….." I said for no apparent reason.

"Uh…..yep?" Aria replied. A slow smile crept to my face. I couldn't help but chuckle at her not paying the slightest attention to me. What had gotten into me? I don't laugh. I don't know why this amused me, but it did. Normally, I got upset at being ignored, but with Aria, it was different. I'm not quite sure why. Gosh, I was stupid. She had Aaron, her boyfriend.

At that moment, a stylish looking girl sauntered out of the Demeter cabin, but it was obvious that this girl wouldn't get her hands dirty. I assumed that this girl was from the Aphrodite clan. I wasn't interested in her, but man…..she was gorgeous. The girl had amazing brown eyes and blonde hair, curled to perfection of course. Those things about her were nice, but her smile was blinding. Forget anything I said earlier, I was in love with this girl. "It's Erica," the girl said with a soothing voice.

She narrowed her chocolate eyes at us, but then she turned away. I looked at Aria and saw why. She had been giving the girl a ten out of ten glare. I grinned stupidly. Did two girls like me? Gods, what had gotten into me? I don't smile, but my mouth seemed to forget that. Normally I was smooth around the ladies - or so I liked to think.

"Erica," I called, "Uh….do you wanna hang with me sometime? Like dinner? Or a movie? Or not - whatever is good with me." I was an idiot. The first girl I had been truly in love with probably hated me. Sure, I THOUGHT that I liked Aria, but she had just been the first girl I had seen in a long time. Is that wrong of me? Ah, who cares.

Erica gave me a dazzling smile and nodded. Yes! I noticed Aria glaring daggers at me, but at the moment, I couldn't be happier.

"Douche," I heard Aria mutter under her breath. That would have made me mad, but I felt like flying right now. Did it mean anything? Probably. Apparently, Aria was into me too. That would have made me elated a few moments ago, but now I got an upgraded version. Gosh, Aria was right - I was a douche. Right now, I couldn't care less.

Aria's POV

DOUCHE. I WANT THIS GIRL TO BURN IN TARTARUS. Gods, when did I feel that strongly towards A.j? I didn't, but seeing him make googly-eyes at Erica killed me. I thought he had been looking that way at me just 10 minutes earlier! DOUCHE. I'LL KILL HIM! And of course, her.

A.j's POV

Considering I had just picked Erica over her, Aria seemed to be taking it quite well.

Aria's POV

I'LL KILL HIM. That DOES seem to show how well I was actually taking.

I'm not sure I made a good first with my cabin mates.

A.j's POV

Surprisingly, I felt a little bit bad about what I did to Aria. That wasn't like me. I suppose it was just because I was nervous about my first date with Erica. Which was also weird. I don't get nervous.

I saw Erica walk away. About half the guys were staring at her, and I couldn't help but feel superior. She had chosen me! It was kinda weird, but right after Erica left, my happiness started to deflate, and I got less and less excited about seeing her later. Weird, but I didn't dwell on it. Who knows…..my memory even got kind of fuzzy. Who was Erica….like to me? She seemed like she knew me...like we were dating. That couldn't be right though. It was always those shallow girls who I hated, and yes, picked on. Only because they picked on everyone and acted so much…... above everyone.

I couldn't even remember what I had done to Aria, but when I turned around to talk to her, she just glared and turned around. She stomped down the hill, and I turned to follow her. Chiron grabbed my arm and said icily, "I really don't think that's a good idea. After everything that you just did? Even _I_ thought that you weren't that thick."

I stood shocked for a moment, but I quickly got over it. I racked my brain for memories that should be there, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't remember what happened over the last 10 minutes.

Aria's POV

The nerve of some people! So he thinks that he can just ask a girl out right in front of me, clearly seeing that I like him? Ohhhh no. Things were going to change, and they were going to change now. I twirled my phone in my pocket, (yes, I picked it up after A.j. rudely swatted it out of my hand) and I tried to think of a good "comeback/revenge" plan. Yep, that's right, I should be a daughter of Nemesis. If you do something bad to me, expect your money jar to be gone by the morning. My phone….I pressed the home button quickly and clicked on an icon - the iMessage.

What was I going to do? Well, it was obvious Aaron wasn't going to come here, so he was of no use to my plan. Wow...I was cold. I sent the text anyway.

Text chat:

Aria: uh…..i need to talk 2 u

Aaron: yep ok cool what?

Aria: imma srry but it just not working for meh

Aaron: kk cool….i have been cheating on u since after the first week we started

dating lol

Aria: FFFF u effin-! Hold on, lemme go and get my dads sniping rifle

 **Aaron has left the group**

Aaron has left the group? Man, did I text that on the grade group chat? My life is over! Well, I did what I meant to - break up with Aaron. I thought that I didn't care about him, but tears started flying down my face. My first boyfriend had been cheating on me. I just wanted to know who it was with. Chelsea? Courtney? Tiffany? Why was I only coming up with stereotypical mean girl names? I guess I just didn't want to believe that any of my friends would knowingly hurt me. Well, at least now the whole grade knew. AARON IS THE WORST BOYFRIEND EVER!

I cleaned up my face a bit before heading back to camp. A.j glared at me, but before I knew it, he came running up to hug me. He seemed embarrassed since he wasn't the hugging type, but I was happy. I realized that he hadn't been glaring at me, but at the person who had caused me to cry. I love Aj. Can someone edit that out? I cried into his shoulder before remembering that I was still supposed to be mad at him. Pushing him away, I frowned and wiped the rest of my tears.

A.j. POV

When I am around Aria, my heart picks up and I get this pleasantly warm feeling in my chest. When she was crying on my shoulder, I felt as if I was going to explode. In a good way. Then, she pushed me away and I felt like I was going to explode. Again. In a bad way. I didn't know why everyone was so obsessed with love. It made me dizzy. Was she seriously STILL mad at me? I mean, it had been a whole 2 minutes! Maybe girls were a bit more sensitive than guys...did they hold grudges longer. Normally, I would just run up to the person who was mad at me and gently punch them, but I had a feeling that that tactic wouldn't work in this situation.

Aria's POV

I reminded myself to still be mad at A.j. Usually I had no problem holding grudges, but with A.j I seemed to forget the moment I saw him. I wasn't even that mad at him. Sure, that stunt with Erica left me feeling miserable, I couldn't let myself get jealous because he picked a gorgeous girl over me. I thought that I made it pretty clear to A.j that I liked him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. I knew that it wasn't the latter because he seemed almost ready to murder Aaron for hurting me - I'm nearly positive that he would have killed him had he been there (though honestly I wasn't kidding about that sniper rifle - my dad is a gardener but used to be in the Marines, as a sniper as you probably can guess).

Well, maybe I could get past A.j and Erica together. How I said I like to get revenge? Yep, I wasn't kidding. A.j doesn't like me? Fine. He'll have no problem will me practically throwing myself at all the other boys at camp. Just kidding. That's nasty, and SOOO not me. Still, one guy might do the trick. Would I be leading him on? Ya, but….well no buts. I would be, and that's wrong. As A.j would say, who cares?

Ugh, I have to stop thinking about A.j! Whatever it's cool. Not like I'm about to throw something or anything. Why would you think that? Oh...this brick in my hand? No, that's not to throw at Erica. How dare you think that! But good idea.

 **I think that it is time to wrap up this LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG chapter. I'm really sorry guys for this long-winded probably boring chapter. Nothing much happened in it, but we felt like writing so yay! Comment if you have an idea for the next chapter, and you will get a shoutout at the beginning like our brains did lol. (because we just decided to wing it for this chapter)**


	4. Starbucks and the Cheesecake Factory

**Hey guyssss! So…..this is chapter 4! Yay! I'm assuming you all know who this chapter has the shoutout for. Did that sentence make any sense? IDK LOL**

 **PRE APOLOGY NOTE - Sorry, we were kind of crazy today again, so if you can even get through the whole chapter, you deserve to become a god. (anyone catch the reference? Nope? Well, I'm used to being a loner XD)**

 **Disclaimer - Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan, not us. But Aria and A.j are our OCs so don't go looking for them in the actual books XD!**

 **Shoutout for chapter ideas: our brains. I would like to personally thank them. Without them…..well you know. Our brains is be real gud to use 4 usd cuz et make da thingys funner.(as you can see, we overused our brains in that last sentence so it's just #GREAT)**

 **#ProSkillz**

Aria's POV

I couldn't decide if i should be mad at A.j or love him. First, he saved my life and brought me to camp, but then he ask another girl on a date RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Couldn't he decide on whether to be a douche or the love of my life? Omigods I did not just say that. DELETE, DELETE. I settled on getting revenge. I knocked on the door of the Apollo cabin. A hot guy about my age answered, but I felt no spark or anything between us. I wished A.j was there.

"Hi! I'm Aria." I put out my hand for him to shake. He, unlike A.j, shook it. "Peyton. You new here?"

"Yeah, and I was wondering if you

could show me around." I asked sweetly. "Sure!" After Peyton gave me a quick tour of the armory, climbing walls, arts and crafts, stables, arena, and the cabins, he asked me how I got to camp. I told him about the centaurs, and when I got to the part about A.j, I pointed him out. He was standing next to the biggest pine tree which on it was a small, golden blanket. Peyton just rolled his eyes. " I hate emo people. Stinks that _he_ saved you."

"Why?"

"Some people say," he whispered, "he is a spy for the enemy." A.j.? A spy? I couldn't believe it. I _wouldn't_ believe it. When he was fighting monsters (or flirting with Erica) he got a little scary, but otherwise he was so _gentle. I almost laughed at the idea that A.j could do something like that. Unfortunately, my brain wasn't as sure as my heart was. If my brain was having a text message, this is probably how it would go:_

 _Brain-part 1: A.j is super kind and caring. He's the best!_

 _Brain-part 2: Uh yeah maybe, but he's just acting. He is a SPY. Wrap your brain around that!_

 _Brain-part 1: Hey! That's not fair I AM a brain! Either way, A.j saved me, and he's super hot. In a gothish type way._

 _Brain-part 2: Um, yeah. I think Erica would agree with you on the hot part because she said yes when he asked her out in front of you!_

 _Brain-part 1: He may be ignorant, but he's not a spy._

 _Brain-part 2: Yeah, that's why Chiron hates him. A.j must have done nothing. You're right Chiron is being so unreasonable. And since I know you hate riddles I'll remind you: that was sarcasm._

 _Brain-part 1: No! They must have some personal family feud type thing or-_

 _Brain-part 3: SHUT UP I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!_

 _Brain-part 3 has removed Brain-part 1 and Brain-part 2 from this conversation._

 _End of weird brain messages._

So, as you can see, I am very conflicted. My rational side told me that he was most likely a spy, but my weird tingly side refused to believe this. Or even consider it for that matter. Maybe there was something A.j. and I could do to prove he wasn't a spy…

A.j.'s POV

As I stood next to the tree, I rubbed the trunk. There was a tiny ditch near the roots, and I could sense something deadly had been injected here. Poison. This is where my dad, Luke Castellan, had poisoned the Camp Half-Blood border. I looked down at the camp and sighed. What was I doing here? They don't want me. Then I thought about Aria and my heart sped up. Aria was just so…

Aria's POV

After flirting with Peyton for like half an hour, he finally asked me out. On the inside, I was like "eww, no!" but I said "sure!" I took Peyton's hand and we walked back to camp. I made eye contact with A.j. He tilted his head and gave me a questioning look, but I turned away. I promised to talk to Peyton later and he headed back to his cabin. I wiped my hand on my shorts. Peyton juice. Gross.

A.j. POV

OMITITANS WHAT THE HECK IS ARIA DOING WITH THAT HOT DUDE FROM THE APOLLO CABIN?!

Aria POV

Oh yes….A.j _definitely_ seems jealous. YASSSSSS! But it kind of hurt me. I mean, he totes (since when did I say totes?) deserved it. This is all his fault! If he had never asked Erica out, I wouldn't have done this. Peyton has clammy hands! EWWW DATS NASTY

A.j's POV

Do I really deserve this? I mean, I'm a pretty awesome guy if I do say so myself. (not to be cocky or anything)

Aria's POV

Erica and Peyton should go out so A.j. and I can date…..did I say that out loud? I was just was saying that hypothetically. Not real life. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Funny you would even think that I meant something different. Hahaha.

A.j.'s POV(This is a conversation)

"The Cheesecake Factory is good. So much better than Starbucks." Why are girls all obsessed with Starbucks?

Aria's POV

"How are you NOT obsessed with Starbucks?"

A.j. POV

"Because everything from Starbucks is made in factories."

Aria's POV

"Um, and they call it the Cheesecake _Factory_ for a reason!"

A.j.'s POV

"Kill me"

Aria's POV

"Gladly"

"Kiss me"

A.j.'s POV

"Marry me"

Aria's POV

"Wait what?"

A.j.'s POV

"Did I say that out loud? Oops."

Erica's POV

"A.J.!" Won't matter anyways. What? Did you think I literally liked him? Please, I'd never set MY standards so low. I mean, emo?! He's not even cute! I should be going out with someone hot like Peyton! That fugly Aria got to him first! It's not fair!

Peyton's POV

"Why am I in this conversation?" Imma go flirt with Erica. "Sup?"

Everyone's POV

"LEAVE Peyton!"

Erica's POV

"Come on Peyton let's go"

Aria's POV

"Yeah go jump off a cliff or something"

Peyton's POV

"What cliff?"

Aria's POV

Oh gods I felt sooooooooo embarrassed. And A.j thought I liked this guy! A.j rolled his eyes and smirked at me. Gods Peyton was thick. My face burned, and I imagined how red I must look. It wasn't that I was embarrassed _for_ him. I was embarrassed to be seen _with_ him.

A.j.'s POV

I'm so glad Aria doesn't like stupid. Oops, I mean idiot. Wait, no I meant Peyton. Lol jk I meant it.

Aria's POV

I'm lowkey hating Peyton. Ugh he's so annoying! "Hey, Peyton!"

I mean, get a life! "Omigods yasss! I would love to see you pratice archery!" Not everyone is obsessed with your abs! Please, this guy is so stupid. "Yeah, I'm so impressed by your IQ! You're so clever!" His IQ is literally 40! I didn't realize you could have such a low one! For a son of Apollo, he's not that good at music, or anything for that matter! Forget medicine! "I just can't believe how you rocked that saxophone!"

Peyton's POV

Aria is like SOOOO into me. She is really impressed with my music and academic! You did not I may be starting to actually like Aria! If she thinks I'm awesome, she can't be all bad! Of course, Aria is just there to complement me. Erica is there as my eye-candy. Life is great!

A.j's POV

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, had to get that out of my system. This guy legit thinks that Aria likes him! He's even more of an idiot that I thought! Wait….what if she does?! Oh no! I didn't think about that…...couldn't be…..could it?

 **I hope that you guys liked this chapter! I hope it wasn't too long and boring for you guys! Comment on this chapter if you have ideas for the next chapter! You get credit! Review, favorite, and follow this story if you want to know when a new chapter is out. See ya!**


	5. Campfires and Fireworks

**Heyyyyyy! So we have Chapter 5 out for you guys! I hope you enjoy, and favorite, follow, and review to get updates on when we post. So, here's the chapter:**

 **Disclaimer: We are not a man named Rick Riordan(sadly). Percy Jackson does not belong to us(sadly).**

Aria's POV

I got called to the "Big House" the next day. When I got there, A.j. and Chiron were sipping some kind of drink. I could tell him and Chiron had been previously having a heated conversation, but they both shut up when I came. I didn't really see the point, considering that the first day we came they were fighting right in front of me. I guess A.j was trying to be all gentlemanly like. I only heard a little bit of what they said, but it was enough to make me furrow my brow in confusion.

"You can't stay. I won't allow it." Chiron bluntly told A.j.

I couldn't believe A.j was going to have to leave. Honestly, I didn't know many other people here. Let me rephrase that - I didn't know AND LIKE many other people here. Sure, I was dating Peyton, but he obviously was into Erica, and quite frankly, that guy isn't bright enough to even notice if the whole camp suddenly was bombed. Chiron should make Peyton leave! He's certainly bring down the camp's average IQ. Suddenly, I realized exactly what Chiron meant. At the beginning, when I got here, he was talking about something or other that A.j did in the past. I also remember thinking that if we could go on a camp mission of some sort, Chiron would look past anything that he had done. Hopefully.

"We could go on a mission or quest or adventure! Whatever you guys call it." I blurted out.

"We?" A.j asked, but both Chiron and I ignored him.

"Well, there is that one thing…...of course me, being a son of Kronos wouldn't dare go there…" Chiron muttered thoughtfully. I wanted to know what he was talking about, but

that name…...Kronos. When I first met A.j, he started to say he was the son of Kr-. Of course, then he changed it to "a titan." I met A.j's eyes, and he seemed to plead, "Not here. Not now."

I respected A.j's wishes so I didn't bring it up. Still, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Kronos. Greek mythology. Where did he fit in? I decided that I would check later in some of the books that Peyton lent me to get started on my knowledge of the Greek myths. Chiron and A.j started talking about something, but after about 30 seconds I zoned out. I politely excused myself from their conversation - it was about sports or something. Chiron and A.j actually seemed like friends, but I'm sure it won't last long.

10 minutes later

I eventually got a NUKE MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just kidding. I got a bunk in a cabin - I think they called it the Hermes cabin. I wasn't quite sure why I wasn't going to the Iris cabin, but Chiron said since I hadn't officially been claimed that we should wait. I looked longingly at a pure white cabin with a small moat of clear water around it. It also had a brilliant rainbow going over the top. I sighed, but continued to walk farther into a plain-looking cabin that reminded me of a fishing shack. It wasn't awful, but MAN it was crowded.

While I was walking in, a boy ran out of a cabin with gears and levers screaming, "YESSS!" He was holding a device, and he pressed one of the many buttons. All of a sudden, Juju on that Beat started blaring from that direction.

"You ugly. You your daddy's son - HEY!"

I could help but start to sing along. I was so happy, I forgot that devices attract monsters. I screamed and freaked. Somehow, I had a rock in my hand and threw it at the object. (I probably was going to use the rock to kill Erica, but I could find a harder one to break through her thick head) Unfortunately, I used to play softball so my aim was true. The hand-held radio shattered on impact. Everyone turned to glare at me.

"I spent all month working on a radio that wouldn't summon monsters to us like a moth to a flame!" Oops "I can't believe you!" With that, the boy that had been standing there triumphantly only a few moments before trudged away, into his cabin.

The boy who was leading me to the Hermes cabin - I think his name was Keith - turned to look at me in disgust.

"We don't want you to break our goods in THIS cabin. You are no longer welcome here." With that Keith slammed the front door in my face. I tried to head over to the Iris cabin, but Chiron halted my progress to lecture me about trying to live in a cabin before I had been claimed by that god or goddess. I muttered my apologized and headed off for the woods, thinking I could find shelter under one of the trees. Surprisingly, I found a nice mossy bed near a shallow pond to rest by.

Since it was getting late, I laid down. It was quite my head.

"You new?" A high pitched voice said calmly.

I jumped up and tried to unsheath my sword - well, A.j's sword that he gave to me. Yeah, I said tried. I pulled too quickly, and I toppled over into the pond, narrowly missing a petite girl who I swear wasn't there just 5 seconds ago.

"Sorry to scare you. I'm Aigua by the way - a pond nymph. My brain picked up, and I easily translated the Catalan into English - I used to live in Italy where I learned how to speak the language fluently. I was rather proud of myself that I remembered aigua meant water. I was actually born in Italy, hence the name Aria - meaning air. (of course Aria is Italian and Aigua is Catalan - two different languages) Technically though, I'm not Italian. My family was just on a trip that turned into a couple of years living in Italy. Well, that's enough about my backstory.

Basically, Aiuga and I talked for a while. Apparently her boyfriend, a satyr named Pike, had been cheating on her. She gave me the details, but in the end, I thought she was overreacting. She really had no proof, and it's not like he had been acting strange. I was getting a little tired of hearing about my new friend's troubles (she seemed to have A LOT of them) so I yawned and told her I was too tired to stay awake any longer. She narrowed her eyes but nodded.

In the morning

I slowly crept away from Aigua's pond, not wanting to wake her up. Camp seemed to have cooled down overnight. If I was lucky, the campers would let me back into the Hermes cabin. Or maybe I would even be claimed tonight! Chiron said that I would have to get claimed before we could go on this mysterious quest that Chiron refused to speak of. I was thinking that A.j would have to be claimed. He mumbled something like, "I already have," but to me it sounded like, "Hurf teneramicy blab."

After I realized that A.j was the son of Kronos, he started to avoid me at all costs. Seriously. One day, I was just walking around like a normal person and he jumped into the lake! Really? Who does that bruh? Every time I see him doing something weird, he makes up some lame excuse about trying to find something that he lost - it wasn't fooling anyone.

At the campfire

After eating, we all went to a large campfire to sing songs and have fun. When we were all coming, I saw a young girl move away from the fire as though she didn't want to talk to all the campers - or get in their way. A Dionysus camper followed my gaze.

"Oh, that's just Hestia."

If I could remember right, that was a goddess from Greek mythology. I turned around to ask the boy why she was here, but he was already mixed in with everyone else. I sat down next to A.j, who decided to stop ignoring me.

"Hey." I said, trying to start a conversation.

"Hey." Not much to go on.

Fortunately before I had time to say anything stupid, everyone started singing a camp favorite - something to do with Apollo's cattle? One by one, people stopped singing to stare at me. Oh gods, did I have marshmallows on my face? I soon realized that people weren't looking at me, but above me. I relaxed - probably just a plane or a cool bird. Then, I to looked above me. Almost as though it was made out of a mist or fog, was a delicate looking rainbow suspended over me. At first, no one did anything. I heard a clear and powerful voice rise above the quiet mumble of the crowds.

"All hail Aria, the daughter of Iris."

With that, Chiron bent down as low as one could possibly go. Others began to follow. The only ones left standing were the Hypnos kids - who I was sure were sleep-standing - and A.j. He just stared at the symbol until someone pulled his leg and gestured for him to kneel. People began to clap, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw two boys. I wasn't sure exactly what they were doing, but I reacted too late. I saw the chained net coming, but there was no way to stop it. And then it was black.

20 minutes later

I opened my eyes to see my attackers. A short boy I didn't recognize, and a grimy guy I swear looked familiar. I soon recognized him as the radio-boy from the Hephaestus cabin. They snickered at me. Man, they just ruined my best moment at camp - except for when I was crying into A.j's shoulder. That was a highlight. I realized that they had intended for just that. Unfortunately, I was suspended pretty high in the air. I hoped that they had no intention of dropping it, for I would certainly die.

"Listen kid. We don't wanna hurt you." Even though he called me a kid, we looked about the same age.

"You just have to answer some…..questions for us and then we will see if we feel like letting you go."

"Depending on how truthful your answer is." The short one smirked, and I blushed for no reason.

They saw how uncomfortable I was when he talked to me, so he continued.

"Of course, I must have one think before we start - your box object."

I glared at him. Did he really think I would give him my phone to answer some stupid questions?

He gave me a fake-annoyed look before yelling to the other guy, "Drop the net."

"WAIT!" I couldn't help it.

"Very well."

I heard a small beep that I couldn't quite place.

"First question - who do you like? And remember - be honest." He smiled wickedly.

"A.j." I mutter hesitantly.

"Forgive me, I couldn't quite hear you." He said - I knew quite well that he knew exactly what I had just said.

"Ugh I hate you…..I said A.j."

"Ohhhh…...the goth boy from the ship…well. Next question - well, it's more of a request: say, 'I love Kyle and I couldn't live without him.'" I looked at him, but then I said

"Sorry, that one was more personal. Anyways…..next question: what is your favorite TV show?"

"Dora the explorer."

Kyle let out a clear laugh. I was hoping for such a response, and I couldn't help but feel if Kyle hadn't tried to kidnap me we would be friends.

I answered a couple more random questions, but Kyle didn't seem as mean during these ones.

"Here, we'll let you down."

They walked inside a flying chariot I didn't see before since it was behind me, and they gently lowered me into a small pond. I recognized it as Aigua's. Kyle and Rowan let me out of their chained prison and asked me not to tell anyone. I didn't get why I shouldn't, but I wasn't really that mad. It was obviously just a joke to get back at me for breaking the radio.

After Rowan left, Keith stayed behind.

"Uh….I know that you said you liked A.j, but do you - urm - maybe um wanna go to the fireworks with me?" He said the last part in a rush, but I thought it was kind of cute. Even though I liked A.j, it wasn't that serious. Besides, Kyle was funny and nice.

"Of course!" I gave him a big smile.

Kyle visibly relaxed and returned my smile.

"Oh, by the way…..I'm a son of Hecate."

I thought this was interesting - a magic goddess who controlled the Mist. It did make me a little on edge though. For some reason, the Mist scared me. Maybe that was why at first it was uncomfortable to talk to him.

"I'm rotten at controlling the Mist though, so don't worry about that," he said seeming to read my mind. I could hear Rowan calling for him, and he waved bye and left. I couldn't help but jump up and down with joy. Yipee!

When I got back to the cabins, everyone asked where I had been, but I refused to answer. They all saw the net, but maybe they had someone control the Mist to make them forget. I knew any demigod could manipulate the Mist, but children of Hecate were the best. I would have to ask Kyle if Rowan knew how.

It was almost past curfew,so everyone was scrambling to get to their cabins before the harpies came out. I let out a sigh of contentment as I peacefully strolled to the Iris cabin.

I looked over my shoulder, and saw Chiron herding A.j out of camp and over Half-Blood Hill.

"Noo!" I screamed as I ran to them. When I finally got there, it was too late. All I could see was a taxi cab driving away in the far distance, and only Chiron was there.

I hope that you guys liked Chapter 5! Sorry, we kind of gave up on people giving us ideas for each chapter, but if you have one, comment it and we will try to incorporate it. Review, favorite, and follow if you like the story!


	6. The Train Ride

**Heyyyyyyyyy! So, we have another chapter for you guys! I hope you like it! Follow, favorite, and review if you want to get updates or a shoutout in one of these chapters! See you later (when we have another chapter)! So, here we go….**

My only thought only thought when I looked at the speck of yellow that was a taxi was, "I'm gonna kill someone." I glared at Chiron, but he seemed oblivious. "Dam it." (anyone get the reference) Startled, Chiron looked at me.

"What?"

I groaned inwardly at his phony innocence. He knew _exactly_ what I was upset about. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be overly disturbed by this.

"Why did you send A.j away?" I asked, _thinking_ I knew the reason.

"Oh come now, don't be so naive. We both knew that it was just a matter of time that being on that ship would catch up to him."

I stood, stunned. Chiron looked at me with a sympathetic expression on his face.

"Oh dear….I had assumed he told you."

I didn't need Chiron to tell me any more than that, because I finally put together the pieces. All the campers had mentioned a war of Camp Half-Blood against Kronos. Apparently, one of Kronos's weapons/groups was called the Princess Andromeda. That was a ship, and A.j had been on it. I paled. Even though I was angry at A.j, I got why he didn't tell me. He was just worried that I would stop being his friend.

I wanted to save A.j. I HAD to save A.j.

"I want to go on that quest you were talking about."

"You need a prophecy."

"Then let me visit the oracle." I pleaded.

Chiron sighed and said, "I'll take you to them."

Them? I thought there would only be one. Whatever. If they could give me a prophecy, I would be fine with it.

Chiron and I walked silently for a couple of minutes. Finally, we got to a large cave with a purple and light green beaded door.

"I'll introduce you."

We walked in, and Chiron called out, "Hey Chloe! Sophie!" A pair of blonde haired twins walked over to us - taking their precious time.

"Hey Chiron!" They said cheerfully in unison. I will honestly say it was a bit unnerving.

"I would like to introduce you to our new camper Aria."

The two girls turned to face me, and their eyes became glossed over. A dark purple mist started swirling around Sophie, and a pale green mist was twisting and swerving around Chloe.

Suddenly, Chloe began chanting. Sophie said the next line, and it kept going like that - they just switched off between lines that kind of sounded like a poem.

"Seven shall go on a quest."

"Two will face a mighty test."

"Six will leave from the place of disgrace."

"The winged one feels out of place."

"Five shall meet the huntress's shame."

"And they shall carry the heavy blame"

"Only three shall return unscathed."

"One shall not escape the archer's raid."

As though nothing had happened, the girls beamed at me and held out their hands for me to shake.

Not trying to be rude but I kinda was, I stepped away from them. They both frowned and looked at Chiron.

"Girls…...you just spoke a prophecy."

Instead of being horrified like I was, Chloe and Sophie bounced up and down with joy.

"YAY! OUR FIRST ONE!" they shouted. I swear everyone in the cabins and woods could clearly hear them.

Chiron looked at me and said, "Well, you've got yourself a quest. You are the leader because seeing you definitely triggered the prophecy to happen."

As scared as I was, I felt a huge weight lift off of me. I was going to have a chance to save A.j!

Chiron and I talked about the quest, and I tried to convince him that even though it said seven, we should only send six demigods. I was hoping that A.j could eventually join us and become the seventh. Chiron told me that he would only send an odd amount of demigods, so we settled on five. I would even get to chose the five!

"Um…." I didn't really know that many demigods, but I just said five people's names I knew, "Nadine, Keith, Kyle, and Merlot (yes, we know it's a wine….daughter of Dionysus)." I had no idea who the sixth was going to be, but as long as I got A.j back safely, nothing else really mattered.

Nadine, a daughter of Nike, seemed pretty chill. She wasn't really too over competitive. I met her when I got claimed. Keith was the son of Hermes. I didn't really like him since he had kicked me out of the Hermes cabin, but it's fine. I'm not salty or anything. Kyle - well, you know Kyle. Son of Hecate who I am going to the fireworks with if our quest ends soon enough. I only knew Merlot because she was dating Keith, and he refused to go unless she came too.

Chiron gave us all a brief talk on what exactly we had to do. There was some sort of stone we had to get from a monster that would heal a disease that was spreading around camp. He made it sound dangerous, but no one seemed to think it was that big of a deal. For some reason, I didn't see exactly how this connected to the prophecy that we got. Maybe only time would tell.

We decided that we would just gather supplies and then head off. I had a small backpack that I would bring for rations and my sword. I stuffed the pack with a large water bottle and small bags filled with ambrosia. Kyle carried little mini bottles filled with nectar incase we got hurt. I packed two extra camp t-shirts, and a pair of jeans. No one else knew, but I slipped in a pair of boys clothes for if - when - we found A.j. I felt a little bit bad that I was dating Kyle but still liked A.j, but I had made it pretty clear that I had feelings for A.j.

You guys are probably just like omigods you're still dating Peyton how are you with Kyle!

Yep, well I broke it off with Peyton just before dinner a couple nights ago. I think A.j also got dumped by Erica. Apparently, her whole reason for dating A.j was to make me mad for something that my mom, Iris, did to her. The thing that made me really happy was that she said A.j was only into her because she was controlling the Mist! Of course, she would never tell these things directly to me. I heard her talking to Peyton in the breaks of their kissing. Gross.

Everyone gathered a couple more supplies - I grabbed a golden dagger and a jumbo sized bag of my favorite chips - and we left.

Chiron had told us that the stone was in Vancouver, Canada. We decided to take a public train to get there. I glanced over all of our team to make sure everyone was ready. Surprisingly, I caught Kyle staring at me. I smiled at him, and he looked away, embarrassed. I just shrugged. We got to the train station about 10 minutes before our train would leave. I felt around in my black-jeans pockets and pulled out a wad of cash. If I would of thought about it, I would remember that A.j had given it to me a week earlier for a taxi, but I assumed Chiron gave it to me and I didn't remember.

"Uh….five train tickets for the 4:15 train to Vancouver." I told the ticket seller.

"That would be $550."

I nearly choked at the amount, but what was I expecting? I quickly counted the money. $800. #RichGirlMoments

I handed him his $550, and prayed we would have enough to somehow get back.

We boarded the train, and I sat in a window seat facing forward. Kyle casually plopped himself down next to me. I stiffened a little bit, but I knew that once we started talking I would feel comfortable with him. The seat next to Kyle was empty, so I threw my backpack on it. Across from us, Keith and Merlot started randomly kissing - I guess they REALLY liked each other? Next to them, Nadine scooted away uncomfortably.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pretty girl with dark wavy hair.

"MIKALAY!" I screamed with joy. A man who had been previously sleeping opened one eye to glare at me.

Startled, Mikalay jumped up. She threw a package to the ground with fright.

"Aria?!" she ran up to me and squeezed me in a tight hug.

"I was actually just delivering this package to the post office - the one by my house was closed."

"Um, then why did you choose the one in Vancouver?" I asked.

"Oops! I was wondering why it costed so much!" She confessed.

"That is something you would do," I said laughing.

"Well, here you go! Happy late birthday!" She said, handing the package to me.

"Ummm…..my birthday was six months ago…." I told her.

"I did say late birthday!" Mikalay playfully shoved me.

"My bad! Keep it anyways!"

I tore off the packaging, and I found a cardboard blue box. I opened it, and a delicate silk scarf was sitting there. It had a beautiful green pattern with a holiday-type look to it.

"Thank you so much!" I embraced her in an even tighter hug than before.

We all talked for a little while, and I invited her to sit with us. Eventually, we decided to tell her about the quest we were undertaking. I even told her about me being a demigod daughter of Iris. I'm not sure if she believed us though. Even though we told her it was dangerous, she convinced us to let her come along. I moved my backpack so she could sit down. Kyle and I switched spots so she could sit next to me (I'm just THAT popular lol). I'm like Mikalay's right hand man. I would do anything for my friends. Literally anything. Jump off a cliff. Give them a hundred dollars. You name it. Heck, I started this quest to save a guy who I had known for less than a week. I froze. Has it really only been a week? I felt like I had known him multiple lifetimes. What scared me was that I would do anything for him. Since when did he become the most important part of my life?

I jerked around to look at Kyle. Sure, he was funny, nice and cute, with his striking blue eyes and short brown hair. But did I think of him as any more than just a friend? Kyle's arm was wrapped around me, but I didn't feel that weird tingly sensation I got when A.j just looked at me. I pushed down those feelings, and hugged Kyle. Nothing. He looked startled, but he gently started running his hand threw my hair - in a brotherly sort of way.

Kyle's POV

Omigods. Aria hugged me. Sure, it was a cute little hug you would expect from your sister, but still. I gently started playing with her hair, not wanting this moment to ever end. As much as I liked Aria, I couldn't help but feel as though her mind was not in this moment. I had a horrible idea what - who - she was thinking of…. A.j.

Aria let out a big yawn and rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed with contentment. Being with a girl had never felt so right. But did Aria share my feelings? Probably not. I knew that I couldn't stay with her forever if she didn't like me, but I desperately wanted to.

I wanted to hate A.j. To despise him. I couldn't bring myself to have those feelings just because I was kind of a chill sort of guy. Besides, it wasn't his fault that she liked him.

Aria sighed, but to me it sounded like a sigh of sadness - not happiness. At least I was going to go to the fireworks with her. I smiled. Although I knew it wouldn't work out between us, I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could before that dreadful moment happened.

Nadine's POV

This train trip was _SO_ uncomfortable! Merlot and Keith kept staring at each other and giggling the whole time. And they let that mortal join in on our quest! What were they thinking! Unfortunately, I could tell I was the only one who would do anything to help the quest. By that, I mean I was the only one demigod who wasn't involved in these relationships.

To me, it was quite clear that Aria is only in this to see A.j. Kyle is only doing it to see Aria. Mikalay is a mortal. Keith is only doing it to see Merlot, and Merlot is only doing it to see Keith! And I might not even do a ton of work because that stupid Kyle can't take a hint about when a girl likes him! Whatever though. I'm chill.

Keith's POV

I love Merlot! Finally, a girl belongs to me (if I were Merlot I'd go Amazon on him)! Ugh. My doctor says I need to take my psychiatric pills, but I am completely normal. Luckily, Chiron doesn't know.

Merlot's POV

Ugh. I'm not sure what to think about Keith. He's SUPER cute, but his personality is kinda awful. I want to break up with him, but I think he would literally kill me. He's kinda a possessive freak. Maybe I'll just break it off later…..

Mikalay's POV

I'm not completely sure if everything that these guys are telling me is true. They said they were the kids of Greek gods and goddesses. As crazy as it sounds, I could believe that. Of course, Kyle told me that they were on a secret mission led by cats, bacteria, and tacos who were planning on taking over the world. That wasn't as easy to believe. Whatever. I was only doing this for Aria. How hard could it be? That reminds me of Legally Blonde, my favorite movie. Harvard: Like it's hard.

Kyle's POV

I groaned when the intercom turned on to tell us all that we were five minutes away from Vancouver. I gently shook Aria, who had fallen asleep with her head on my shoulder, awake. She muttered something that sounded like, "A.j?" but I couldn't be sure. With a start, she shot up. Her hair was frizzy and knotted, but I thought she looked as perfect as ever.

"Wha- what time is ii- it?" she asked, yawning between words.

"Ummm…." I checked my watch, "6:55."

She excused herself to go to the restroom and clean up. When she got back, her hair was in a loose bun, with small pieces falling out. She casually tucked one piece behind her ear and I smiled. She saw me looking and smiled back. Ahhhhh…...my life couldn't be going any better. The sweetest girl was going out with me!

A.j's POV

I'm not sure exactly where Chiron told the cab driver to drop me off, but it wasn't the nicest place I've ever been to. Not at all. A small camp had been built a couple miles to the east of where I was - I saw it when I went scouting. At first, I thought I could politely ask the person - I later saw it was a lone girl - for supplies, but at the sight of her long and fierce bow, I decided to stay away. I had a feeling she knew how to use it…..very well.

Aria's POV

Looking at Kyle, I decided I was happy with him. Even though I still couldn't get A.j out of my mind, Kyle was sweet and cute. And I could tell that he really cared for me. I went to the bathroom to change into a plain green shirt and light blue jeans. I even used the scarf that Mikalay had given me as a headband. My hair was just thrown into a loose bun, but I thought it looked okay.

Kyle decided to get ready too, and he came out in a plain camp t-shirt and baggy jeans. His usually unruly hair was combed back with a small piece hanging onto his forehead. When he sat down next to me, I quickly hugged him. He seemed shocked, but happy. These hugs really didn't mean anything - it was just sort of the way you would hug your family - but I did get a little tingling sensation. I used to not get those. That had to mean something.

Who knows if it would work out, but for the moment I feel happy.

"Welcome to Vancouver, Canada!" the speakers blared.

I was one step closer to saving A.j. I smiled at the thought of our reunion. It was going to be a good week.

 **I hope that you guys like how the fanfiction is going so far! It's sort of love drama and is soon going to get to adventure. We might make a poll about who you guys think should get with Aria - not saying that that would decide it (it could though), but we would like to know what you guys think. I hope you guys enjoyed! We are probably going to be updating a lot this week because I, Meghan, am on spring break! So check back if you are enjoying the story! BYE!**


	7. The Church Cliff

**Heyyyyyyyy! (why do I start every chapter out like that?) I can't believe that we are actually still writing this fanfiction. We both (Meghan and Lucia) kinda thought that we would give up after writing five minutes of chapter 1, but we now have every intention of seeing this fanfiction through. Well here you go! (this chapter is the longest so far, but try to stick with it till the end if it's possible lol)**

 **Shoutouts/dedication:**

 **fangirling4life3: thank you so much for following and favoriting this story! Thanks!**

 **Mmmoffitt: Thanks for following and favoriting this story! It truly means a lot to us!**

 **twinklingmelody: Thank you so much for following this fanfiction!**

Aria's POV

As we were stepping off the train, Keith tripped on the steps. Kyle laughed at him, and I couldn't help but smile. Kyle had a good sense of humor - even if it was laughing at other people's misfortune (only because it's Keith lol). It was similar to mine in some ways. To me, it wasn't mean just because Keith was kind of a jerk….don't tell him I said this, but he's kinda weird. So am I though, so who am I to judge? But he acts overly possessive of Merlot.

Was I that way around A.j? Do I feel that way about A.j? Since when have I felt that way about A.j? Oh yeah, the day that I met him. Doesn't every girl love a boy who kills her soon to be monster groom?

Suddenly, I thought about my dad. He was probably going out of his mind with worry. I remembered our little garden shop. That, surprisingly, is what attracted my mom, not him being in the military (the Marines).

Kyle's POV

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Keith just fell flat on his face! I felt bad for laughing…..actually, not really. That creep deserved it (is it bad that he considers me his friend?). He was so weird and possessive of Merlot. Even his girlfriend didn't like him, and that's sad. As I thought about it, I realized that we were kind of the same. My girlfriend didn't really like me, did she? Well, I think she liked me, but not in a boyfriend way. More like a brother or just a friend. I could live with that though. At least I wasn't like some people who thought of their girlfriend as an object…..not mentioning any names or anything though…(cough cough, Keith)

Merlot's POV

I'm going to do it. I am really going to do it. I will break it off with Keith later today...or later this week…..or later this month….ugh, I'm such a coward. Maybe I don't like Keith, but he's honestly kinda scary. He's super muscular….and handsome…..ugh. I should be attracted by his personality rather than his looks. Even though I would hope he would never hurt me, I couldn't really be sure. He was kind of strange. And defensive. And proud. Ugh! What am I going to do? Stop it, Aphrodite! I feel bad that I took pleasure in watching him fall to the ground.

Nadine's POV

Everybody on this quest is an idiot. Am I the only sane person here?

Mikalay's POV

Omigods (that's what the demigods say so I'm trying to do it too)! This is kind of exciting! I have friends with super awesome powers! Well, Kyle and Aria are my friends. I have a suspicion that Nadine hates me since I'm a mortal. Kyle's funny, and I've known Aria since like forever. I can't believe she never told me until now though….. I mean, if she knew she would've stayed at the camp since she found out, so she maybe she only learned recently too. But now, she seemed sadder. She always stares into the distance, like she was looking for someone.

Aria's POV

After we got over the whole Keith incident, I suggested that we got Starbucks but we just called over a taxi. Chiron had told us that the stone was at a large mall, and I could see one in the distance.

"Well, this is pretty straightforward." I said with a hint of disappointment in my voice.

We walked over to the mall, and I was pretty mad at what I saw. Duct taped to the trash bin was a glowing stone. I walked over to it, and noticed a note on red paper tied to the purple stone.

Note:

Here's your stone! I forgot that I had it in the attic the whole time, and I just wanted to let you know to get back to camp. In the trash, there's a small blue bag with money for your trip back. Your welcome. Stay safe!

-Chiron

I crumpled up the note and threw it away. With one quick movement, I grabbed the bag out of the trash. It was covered in Ketchup and had a banana peel stuck to it. Thanks Chiron. It was even more gross than Peyton juice.

"Well, back to the train station," I grumbled. Everyone just looked at me like I was insane. They were right. I was insanely mad at Chiron. (He dead.)

Kyle's POV

Oh gods…...I had never seen anyone as mad as Aria was right now.

Nadine's POV

I had NEVER seen Aria that mad….. Respect.

Keith's POV

Aria looked MAD. Even I was scared. Merlot is sooooo pretty.

Merlot's POV

Aria was mad. Like, mad mad. I was almost as scared of her as I was of Keith. ALMOST.

Aria's POV

I stomped back to the train station and threw my money at the ticket seller.

"Six tickets to Long Island." I muttered.

"Uh…..what did you say?" he asked nervously.

"DO YOU NEED A HEARING AID? I SAID SIX TICKETS TO LONG ISLAND!" I screamed at him, not caring how crazy I looked.

He mumbled his apologies and gave me my tickets. I shoved them at everyone else, and they just stared at me.

I started to walk towards the train. Without looking back to see if they were following me, I hopped on the train.

Tyler's POV (the ticket seller)

Oh no. I'm dead. I'll just go hide in a cave now before she kills me. Bye. Nice knowing you all. She'll come for you next. She's crazy.

Aria's POV

I plopped myself down on a seat. Kyle cautiously sat down next to me. Wisely, he left a space in between.

"Hey."

"Um, yeah?!" I asked rudely, but I immediately felt bad about it.

I sighed and said, "Sorry, I'm just mad at Chiron."

"It's okay…..I understand."

I smiled at him and he scooted over one seat to sit next to me. I laid my head down on his shoulder and fell asleep.

I opened my eyes after about an hour in. I looked out of my window and saw a boy with a black shirt. He looked at me, and I screamed, "STOP THE TRAIN!" Unfortunately, the train kept moving. A.j saw me too, and the train suddenly slowed down. At first, I thought the conductor listened to me, but I saw A.j looking deeply concentrated on something. I remembered that Kronos was kinda like the Lord of Time. A.j. was literally slowing down time.

I knew that he couldn't keep it up forever, so I opened the emergency exit window and jumped out. The other demigods noticed what I was doing so they quickly followed me and jumped out without hesitation. Man, if I jumped off a cliff would they too?

I rolled on impact to avoid a crash. Everyone else did too except Keith. He just fell on his face for the second time today. Man, that was going to leave a scar.

Right when we were all out, the train started to move at its normal pace. Which means it left our sight in about 30 seconds.

A.j's POV

I was sooooo happy to see Aria! I ran up to her and threw my arms around her in a bear hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle looking at me disapprovingly, but I really didn't care.

Kyle's POV

Forget what I said earlier. I hate A.j.

Nadine's POV

"Uhhhh…..guys?" I said, drawing my sword. No one listened to me.

"UHHHH….GUYS!?" I said a little louder with panic in my voice.

A.j looked at me and asked, "What?"

"Not to freak anyone out, but there's a big white bull charging at us and he looks hungry."

Everyone got out there weapons and got ready to charge at the bull. Then, they saw how big it was. And they ran the other direction.

Aria's POV

Did Nadine say we ran the other way? Ugh. No we didn't. It was battle strategy. Yep. Totally. I'm telling the truth. 100%. This stupid scarf (sorry Mikalay) kept falling down over my eyes. I pulled it off and swung it around to throw it in my bag, but it suddenly became heavy. What the… I brought it back around to look at it, but it wasn't a scarf anymore. It was a bronze shield - Celestial bronze to be exact.

"Um….where did you get this?" I asked Mikalay as we were running. Probably not the best time, but I was curious.

"An old antique store." she replied.

Whatever. I would find out later. A.j yelled to us all to turn around to face the bull. If it wasn't trying to kill us, I would have taken a lot of time to admire it. The pure white bull had sleek fur as though it was wet, but I could tell it wasn't. It's beautiful eyes sparkled in the sunlight. I swear, someone should paint a picture of this bull running through the snow with big trees in the background. But sadly, it _was_ trying to kill us.

I snapped out of admiring the bull and unsheathed my sword. This time, I didn't fall to the ground. Luckily.

"That's the Cretan bull!" A.j. shouted.

We all had our weapons out so we stupidly ran over to kill it. It wasn't as easy as I was hoping.

"Uhhh…...where's Aria?" A.j asked.

"I'm right here." I called out.

Everyone looked at where I was standing, but they all looked confused.

"Where? Behind the tree?" Keith asked. I replied by smacking him and saying, "Yep. That slap came from a person behind the tree."

"The bull ate her! Mikalay cried.

Everyone stopped wondering where I was because the bull was about ten feet away from us now.

A.j threw his spear at the bull - I didn't think that was the smartest idea - but it hit its eye. The bull cried out (is that what a bull would do?) but it was nowhere near defeated. It was already back to stampeding us, so I tossed A.j one of my daggers.

"Where did that come from?" A.j asked, but he picked it up and started to run at the bull.

I could help but marvel at how heroic (and hot) he looked right now.

Nadine also got out her bow and shot the bull's other eye. Now it was blind. Not dead.

I gripped my shield. I threw it like a frisbee and it decapitated the bull. I wish. Well, I actually threw it too high so it missed the bull by three feet. Unfortunately, the shield came flying back like a boomerang and it knocked me out. Dam, I was great at this fighting stuff.

Kyle's POV

Where did that shield come from? Why is Aria knocked out? WHAT'S GOING ON?! Pure confusion.

A.j's POV

I don't know what exactly happened, but suddenly Aria's body was limply lying there. I gently scooped her up and tossed her on my shoulder. I took the dagger that Aria apparently gave to me and threw it into the bull's open mouth. My shot was true. The Cretan Bull shuddered and collapsed.

When we all settled down, Kyle opened his bag and brought out his bottles full of nectar. He gently pulled down Aria's jaw and poured a little bit of nectar down her throat. Her eyelids fluttered open.

Aria's POV

I felt a smooth liquid slide down my throat. It tasted like my dad's famous peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - they were special because he put celery and chips on it (they are really good surprisingly). I longed to be back home.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. I saw six concerned faces looking down at me. I tried to stand up, but I got dizzy and fell back down.

"The- the bull?" I asked, remembering what happened.

"Dead." A.j responded.

I looked over my shoulder to see that it was true. A large white lump laid on the clean white snow. Suddenly, it burst into a fine yellow powder, showing that it had finally died. The only evidence it had ever been alive were the hoof prints in the snow. Suddenly, a wolf pounced on me and bit my head off. The end. Just kidding. Hopefully.

"Can we throw the bull of a cliff?" A.j. and Kyle laughed, but nobody else. Nadine was the first to stand up and she said, "Okay…... she's alright so let's get back to camp."

"Wait! I saw a hunter...or was it a huntress. She looked kinda dangerous. We need to check her out. Remember the prophecy?" A.j told us.

"Oh, so now we are looking for trouble? Chiron never told us to do this." Nadine said.

"Maybe Chiron didn't know about this….this is possibly a serious threat." A.j challenged.

They both started glaring at each other. Nadine finally blinked and A.j smiled triumphantly. I could tell we were going to stop this huntress.

A.j's POV

I carefully led the others to the spot where I had last seen the girl.

"Uh…..no one's here. Did you just imagine this strange archer?" Nadine questioned.

A.j shook his head. "This...this is the spot. I remember that weird shaped rock from before…..she must have moved her camp."

"Yeah...and she sounds like she would fit our prophecy perfectly," Aria agreed with me.

I smiled at her gratefully.

"Let's go….east." I'm not sure exactly what made me say that, but it just felt right.

One hour later

We got to a small building near the edge of a cliff that I soon realized was a church. A lady stood outside, welcoming people in.

"Yes….welcome to St. Cecilia's Church! I'm so glad you decided to join us today!"

I don't know what made me do it, but I said, "Thanks!"

I walked into the church, and I saw a sign.

Sign:

 **Fun Fact About St. Cecilia's Church!**

This church was built after a temple to the Ancient Greek god Zeus was destroyed. The original temple was built by a man claiming to be the son of Zeus who wanted to worship his father! The man is now in rehab to straighten his mind.

END OF SIGN

A.j's POV

This church was built on the grounds dedicated to Zeus?! Zeus must be MAD.

Merlot's POV

I'm going to do it. I am going to break it off with Keith. Today. Here.

"Hey Keith? Can I show you something over here?"

He smiled and nodded, probably expecting this was just my way of saying that I wanted to talk to him. Which it kind of was. I just wouldn't say exactly what he thought I would.

"Um Keith? I'm really sorry, but I just don't see any future for us. I think that it would benefit us both if you broke up."

Keith started walking farther away from the church, beckoning me to follow.

"I'm sorry Merlot." he said quietly.

"What?" I asked. I started to realize what he meant, but I was too late.

He had his arms around me and picked me up. I struggled, but I was no match for his strength. Keith walked closer to the edge of the cliff. I looked down, but I shouldn't have. It was a long fall. A very long fall. I couldn't even see the bottom because of a heavy mist that was swirling around.

"Sorry, my love."

With that, he let go.

I screamed, but even if the others heard me, they couldn't do anything. Goodbye Nadine. Goodbye Mom. Goodbye Dad. Goodbye future. Goodbye…..

Keith's POV

Omigods. I killed Merlot. I started sobbing uncontrollably. Why did I do that? Merlot was the best thing that ever happened to me (after that day when I first discovered tacos). Even though she dumped me now, I know she would've come back. I just know it.

The others started running over to me.

"We heard Merlot scream! What happened?!" they asked.

"I- I dumped her…..sh- she got so up- upset that sh- she killed herself!" I was crying during all of this so I'm not completely sure they understood everything that I said. Nadine started bawling. I felt a little bit bad about how I lied about Merlot - she would never kill herself -, but I didn't need them calling me a murderer. A.j just looked like he knew that Merlot would die.

"Six will leave from the place of disgrace…...poor Merlot. The church disgraced Zeus." A.j explained.

I hadn't even thought about that. Weird. This prophecy was going to drive me crazy from now on. I had to know what each line meant!

Nadine's POV

Whahahwhaha…..oh um I- I'm s- so - sor- sorry….Merlot an- and I have been bes- best friends since kinder- kindergarten. I - I feel li- like dying! I miss Merlot! I- could've saved her if I was there. I didn't want to tell anyone, but I have wings. I can fly! I could've saved her….I could've saved her….but now she's gone…...I could've saved her…...

Aria's POV

Now that one of the lines of the prophecy came true, this whole quest seemed way too real. I can't believe Merlot is dead! Not that we were that close or anything, but she was nice….. Keith didn't deserve her. And she didn't deserve to die. A different line of the prophecy says five will meet the huntress. Omigods is someone else going to die?! I'm getting freaked out. This can't be happening…..

Kyle's POV

Don't tell anyone I said this, but I don't think Merlot killed herself. Merlot and I were kind of close, and she told me show was probably going to break up with Keith. If I needed more reason to believe he killed her, he said he was going to propose to her. In my opinion, they were WAY too young to get married but whatever. I'm not saying that I want to believe my friend (could I call him that?) is a murderer, but I kind of do…...gods is that wrong of me?

 **I hope that you guys liked this chapter! Please vote on my poll for who you guys think Aria should end up with! We will probably have the next chapter out by tomorrow, so check back for more!**


	8. The Underworld and the Note

**Heyyyyy! So today we have chapter…...8?! Omigods this seems to be getting to be a longer fanfiction than we were planning for considering we are nowhere near finished. This chapter is kind of a shorter one, but I hope that you enjoy! Please vote on our poll (you can find it on our profile page). Thank you to everyone who has read this fanfiction!**

 **Shoutout:**

 **Jacklynhinzman: Thank you for your sweet comment!**

Aria's POV

As we were walking away from that dreadful church, I couldn't help but look around at my fellow questers. I knew that I would never see some of them again. Looking at the prophecy, it looked like only three of us would live after this quest was over. I prayed that it wasn't me, but then I felt bad for feeling that way. Even if I had to die, I would feel better knowing that the others would be able to complete this quest and return to camp safely.

Although I was worried for everyone, Mikalay was the subject of the bulk of my concern. Everyone else knew exactly what they were getting into, but she was a mortal who didn't realize the full danger of this mission.

I replayed the moment when I first heard the prophecy in my head. Maybe I was missing some vital hint.

"Seven shall go on a quest."

"Two will face a mighty test."

"Six will leave from the place of disgrace."

"The winged one feels out of place."

"Five upshall meet the huntress's shame."

"And they shall carry the heavy blame"

"Only three shall return unscathed."

"One shall not escape the archer's raid."

Carefully, I dissected each line of the prophecy that I could. "Seven shall go on a quest." That sounded pretty self explanatory. "Two will face a mighty test." I wasn't quite sure about that one yet. It probably meant that two of us would have to save everyone else from the hunter or something, but I can't be sure. "Six will leave from the place of disgrace." Well, since Merlot died only six of us left. That was about all I could do. [author's note: I would just like to remind everyone that the prophecy will be explained later, and I am not saying this is an accurate translation of the prophecy. It is just what Aria THINKS. End of author's note]

I sighed. I hadn't made any big realization. Now I'm not sure if I ever would. It would probably be a good idea to talk to the other members of this team to see what they thought, but I didn't feel the need to worry them any further. Since part of the prophecy came true, everyone had lost an acquaintance…...and a friend. Nadine was taking this very hard. While before she was excited to complete this quest to impress Chiron, she now sat alone, only speaking when spoken to. Honestly, it was quite disturbing.

Three hours later…

"Stop and shut up!" A.j. whisper shouted. They was a graceful girl who was running through the woods. She jumped, and knocked an arrow in her bow. With one swift movement, she killed me. The end. Just kidding. Hopefully. [why do we always do this?!] She actually took out a wild boar and some sort of snake. It looked pretty gross. Especially when she picked up the carcasses and - omigods I never want to think of this again - bit off the snake's head.

Merlot's POV

I got to the underworld only five minutes after I had fallen off the cliff. I wish I could kill Keith! That boy can never take "no" for an answer. I chuckled. By the way I was thinking, it sounded as though he had just borrowed something of mine without me giving him permission. Even though I hated him, it was very hard to be mad at Keith. I swear, the boy I had first fallen in love with was _nothing_ like this. But then the accident happened. He hit his head so hard on the window that the doctors knew he would never fully recover, but I just couldn't dump him then. It seemed too cruel - like I was breaking the heart of a sweet and considerate Keith.

I'm so glad that I had a couple of drachmas in my pocket when I died. Solemnly, I handed Charon my passing fee. As I was going up to the three ghosts who would determine my fate, I saw a tall man with dark hair - Hades. He glanced up at me, but I felt as though he looked right through me.

"Ahhh…..Dionysus will _not_ be happy…...come with me." Hades turned around and started walking away. Slowly, I followed him, leaving twenty feet between us.

Hades looked at me and gripped my arm. I passed a boy that looked about my age. He had dark hair and pale skin. Suddenly, I felt Hades and I moving at the speed of sound.

Apparently, we were teleporting, or whatever you want to call it. I found myself gawking in awe as I stared at marble pillars that were the entrance to Mount Olympus.

"HADES. WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT THAT BRINGS YOU HERE UNINVITED." a clear voice boomed. I looked up and practically fell to the floor bowing. There before me was Zeus, King of the gods.

Sarcastically, Hades muttered his apologies. He then explained about how he saw me and knew Dionysus would want to speak with me. A medium-sized man with a cheetah print shirt walked up to me.

"You….Merlot! My favorite daughter…..probably. I can't say I exactly recognize you, but that's cool. Um...oh yes I remember that bet….man I didn't think Hades would take it seriously!"

I looked at him quizzically.

"Well….I might've betted away your afterlife," he said guiltily.

"I kind of bet that you would make it to the end of this quest alive." he mumbled.

"And if you lost?" I asked.

"You would belong to Hades…." He looked sorry, but not that overly upset. He probably had millions of kids all over the world. Why would he care about one measly daughter? (great parenting dad)

Hades looked at me and said, "Well, back to the underworld."

Five months later

Really, living in the underworld with Hades wasn't all that bad. Everyone would think that he's really mean, but I liked to play poker and euchre with him on Fridays. But the highlight of my stay was Asher. Oh yes….Asher Snapdragon. Don't laugh at his name. I have to admit, the first time I heard it I did too. But then I saw those piercing eyes that seemed to change between violet, green, and blue (it sounds ugly, but it's sooooo cute). And he is so much better than Keith. I'm not just saying that because Asher didn't kill me, but that did help to factor in. His hot blonde hair helped too. And his muscles. And his… I'm getting carried away. Back to the point.

Asher was the son of Hades and Persephone. He was also the god of dead plants. Cheerful.

Hades and I got to know each other pretty well, and he decided to get me a present for my sixteenth birthday. I was expecting a simple necklace or clothes, and he handed me a small box. It felt really light, and I easily popped off the top. Inside, there was…...nothing. I looked at him, and he just smiled at me.

"Do you feel different?"

I didn't know exactly what he meant at first, but I did feel stronger. More powerful. Like I could do anything.

"Immortality is pretty great, right?" he smiled at me kindly. A year ago I never would've described the Supreme Lord of the Underworld as kindly, but now he felt like a father to me. Funny. My actual father was at Olympus, but had never acted this way to me. Maybe Dionysus did do me good when he gave away my afterlife - I was much happier here than I could be anywhere else. Even when I was with the nice Keith. Everything about him seemed dull now. Beat that, Keith!

Speaking of Keith…..being a goddess could have its perks in the revenge business. MWAHAHHA! Ok, I'll cut that evil laugh. Maybe. Just kidding. MWHAHAHAHA! Asher is hot. Kevin - I mean Keith - is not.

Kevin - I mean Keith's POV

I was now obsessed with finding out every single meaning of the prophecy. As good as it felt to have Merlot gone, I missed her. (that would've been semi cute except for the fact that he's a psycho).

I kind of want a girlfriend. I'm not used to being alone. Maybe I could ask Nadine…. Well, I couldn't focus on that part of my life right now.

After we saw the girl with the bow, we decided to follow her. We spent about three hours tracking her, just to come up empty-handed. Well, not completely. Attached to a large tree, was a brightly colored note. Aria ran over and plucked it up. She read what it said aloud:

"You have not gone unnoticed. Your interest in me is appreciated, but I will have to ask you to stop. Nevermind. Not ask. Order. If you do not do exactly as I say, I will have six dead bodies. Whomever said the Hunters of Artemis were good has certainly never met me. Oh and….those supplies that you cleverly hid under the fallen tree? Don't come back to look for them. Don't forget - I have no problem being a murderer. One of your members would agree with me that it feels quite nice. I do believe in karma though, so watch your back. Your very own huntress, R."

Omigods. This girl was good. She knew that I killed Merlot though, and she thought that I would get what I deserved.

A.j's POV

When Aria got to the point saying that one of our quest members was a murderer, I swear she glanced up at me. Probably because Chiron insinuated that I killed people. Technically, I didn't kill anybody - not directly at least. Sure, I was apart of a group that did end some demigods lives, but I didn't join by choice. Gods…...I was only convincing myself.

The truth is, when Aria looked at me that way I just wanted to die. If she were giving that look to someone else, I would've killed them. I just didn't want this girl to feel unnecessary pain.

Even though I knew it was wrong, I almost wanted Kyle to be one of the ones who never would come back. Or he could just get completely crazy and dump Aria. Either one of though options would work, just as long as I got to be with Aria. My heart shattered every time that I saw him look at her - which seemed to be every second.

Gods…..if I hadn't been such a jerk by asking out Erica, would we have gotten together before she even had the chance to meet Kyle? I'm not sure, but I don't want to dwell in the past.

Kyle's POV

I looked at Aria looking at A.j and cried inwardly. I knew that I couldn't force her to be with me when she was clearly in love with someone other than me. "I would break it off with her tomorrow." I thought to myself. Just one more day…..

 **I hope that you guys liked this chapter! I'm sorry that it was so short, but I wasn't feeling that motivated to write today (I still wanted to have something out for you guys though). I'm sorry for all the mistakes, I was kind of a lazy proofreader. I don't think that this was one of our best chapters, but I hope it was okay! Not that much happened, but no worries. We will definitely get things going at a quicker pace when all this love drama settles down. I'm not sure if we will have a chapter out for tomorrow because Lucia is still in school and I, Meghan, am leaving tomorrow morning to go on a trip (I will still try to write in the car ride though)! I would just like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited this story because it means so much to us. Bye! Check back tomorrow (I hope that there will be another chapter)!**


	9. The Arrow and the Snake

**Heyyyyyyyyyy! Surprised to see me? Some people probably thought we gave up on the story, but here's Chapter 10 for you guys! I hope that you enjoy!] :)**

 **Shoutout:**

 **daughter of hera- thank you for your nice comment!**

Kyle's POV

I have to let Aria go. Today. Honestly, I'm pretty sure she would break up with me if I didn't break up with her. The only reason she was still with me was because she felt bad that we missed the winter/Christmas fireworks. After I would officially dump Aria, I have little doubt that A.j would ask her out. Dam, why couldn't I be A.j?(Lucia: I know right, I think that every day). Omigods did I actually think that? Well, I better start saying omititans since that's what he says…..

Just kidding. I'm not envious of A.j. Not at all. He just got the girl of my dreams. I'm not brackish (gimme bonus points! Hopefully we used it correctly….) or anything…..

A.j's POV

Omititans. I don't know if it's just me noticing this, but Aria looks really pretty today. She has on a sky blue shirt and her hair was just down, with little wisps just barely out of place - like she wasn't trying to impress anyone. Titans, why am I staring at Aria? I reminded myself that Kyle and her were dating. They had been dating for a while now, so it had to be pretty serious….right?!

Aria caught my eyes, and she smiled. While she used to just smile, she now started to get a faint rose blush in her cheeks. Kyle looked up and noticed me. Omititans. To stop embarrassing myself, I muttered to them that I was just going to be right back. They nodded, and I swiftly walked away. Lucia thinks I'm hot. (SO DOES MEGHAN!)

Aria's POV

I think…

Nadine's POV

When A.j finally got back, he was wearing a cute leather jacket and jeans. Gods, he was hot. Not that I liked him or anything. My heart was with Kyle. Even though I convinced myself I didn't like A.j, I couldn't help but wonder, What if? What if A.j and I got together? I mean, the guy was obviously flirting with me uncontrollably. He must be SUPER into me….

A.j's POV

OMITITANS WHY IS NADINE LOOKING AT ME SO WEIRDLY?!

Nadine's POV

Definitely into me.

MEGHAN'S POV (author)

OMIGODS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

! Good, well now that I got THAT out of my system, we can continue with the story. (please vote on our poll….you can find it on our profile page)

LUCIA'S POV (other author)

EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK IS SO HOT! EXCEPT KEITH. EWWW. Wait I should be thanking him because I he hadn't kill Merlot she wouldn't have met Asher Snapdragon. - hehe

Aria's POV

Well, with Nadine just flirting with A.j, I decided it was time for me to go set up camp under a big tree next to a small stream. I couldn't help but wonder about Aigua - this spot was so much alike to where she was. What happened with her and Pike? I don't know...whatever. I'd have to check back with her when we finished this quest. I laid down my head, and my eyes immediately snapped close.

In the morning, I jolted awake. For a moment, I wondered why I was out in the woods, but then it all came flooding back to me - the quest.

Out of nowhere, I heard a voice saying, "Boo."

I jerked around, but I was too late. A tall girl with a long dark braid was running away, and I soon lost sight of her in the trees. This girl was quick. And stealthy. But she also took unnecessary risks…..maybe I could use that against her.

I glanced over my fellow questers to make sure none of them were hurt. My eyes stopped on A.j. Not just because I got a weird feeling when I saw him, but because on his forehead was a red post-it note.

I quickly snatched up the paper and skimmed the page.

Note:

Don't get too comfortable. I like to begin picking my enemies off one by one. How about the goth kid first? Does that sound good to you? I can only guess who's reading this, but considering I am most likely up in a high tree watching you right now but-

BREAK FROM NOTE

I stopped right there, and scanned the trees. Just barely, I could make out a girl standing near the top of one waving to me. Cautiously, I began to read the rest of the note.

CONTINUATION OF NOTE

no need to look. You just looked right before you read that, didn't you? I am assuming that the one they call "Aria" is reading this since I know she's the only one awake. Well, I have to go deliver this to you now (does that make sense since you're reading this in the future after I wrote it?) so bye! Your friend hunter, U.

END OF NOTE

That's odd. I swear she signed it "R" before. Maybe it's a team? I highly doubted that. The girl, I'll just call her R, looked the same every time. She also didn't strike me as the teamwork and sharing type. Unfortunately, that's all I had: what I thought. What angered me is that she wanted to kill "that goth kid" first. A.j is not goth! Is he? I mean, I _guess_ he's sort of emo, but I wouldn't consider him full fledged goth.

A.j's eyes fluttered the tiniest bit, but then he saw that I was up so he quickly rubbed his eyes and sat up. Gods, I wish A.j would just get a girlfriend. Then I wouldn't want to date him as much.

A.j awkwardly stood up, but he stumbled, clearly still very tired.

"It's ok…...sleep more. I've got it under control." I did not have it under control.

"Na- Nah I'm...Auhhhhhhhh….ok. I'll b- be completely awake in a litt- little bit…." All the way through that one sentence, A.j kept yawning. It kind of reminded me of the time he was talking really slow to annoy me. While that made me mad a while ago, I now saw that as cute and funny. Omigods, what has gotten into me?

A.j's POV

Titans, I probably looked really stupid.`And the worst part is that I can't stop thinking about Aria, and how nice it would be to just sit down and have a cup of coffee with her while we just talked. Is it crazy that right now, that is my one dream and goal in life? Not to live or anything.

I really wish Aria would give me one of those amazing smiles that filled up her face with pure joy. That was also on my Top 3 Wishlist. Man my life is sad right now.

Without really thinking, I walked over to Aria.

Aria's POV

Omigods what is A.j doing?

He was only about three feet away from me when I said, "Stop."

It pained me to do it, but I was still with Kyle. I tried to ignore the glimpse of hurt on A.j's face and the sadness in his eyes, but it made me want to cry.

Speak of the devil, Kyle groaned in his sleep and sat up.

"Food….pancakes….." Kyle mumbled.

A.j and I looked at each other and laughed, but there was still tension between us.

About 10 minutes later, Kyle was completely awake.

"Ummmm…..do you wanna go on a walk with me or something?" He asked.

A.j glared at me, wanting to see what I would say. Dam it, does he expect that I would end my relationship to be with him. The scary thing is that the answer would be yes.

"Sure!" I told Kyle with a fake smile plastered on my face.

Kyle's POV

I swear…...I will do it on this walk. I will not be like Keith, thinking of his girlfriend as an object. Why does this feel so wrong?

I took Aria's arm, old fashioned-style, and she giggled. Even though I could tell it was phony, I couldn't help but try to convince myself that she was really happy with me. _Stop it._ I told myself. This is going to be really hard.

Gently, I guided her to a little pond, right under a leafy tree. This was the spot.

"Aria….you know that I REALLY like you, but I just don't think the feeling is…..mutual." I desperately wanted her to say that it was, that she loved me, but she just slowly nodded.

"I'm sorry, but I just don't think that we were meant to be together. I know most exes say this, but I truly do want to be your friend." Aria told me, gazing at me with apology.

A single tear slid down my face, but I quickly wiped it away. With that, I gave her a sad sort of smile and started walking away.

"Um….is this about A.j?" I called out cautiously.

She gave me a small smile and replied, "I think so…."

"Well then…...I hope you guys work out." I tried to mean what I said. I really did. Well, I think I really meant it. If they didn't work out…I don't have any plans for my future, but maybe we could get back together…what?! It happens all the time…...in Hollywood…..

Nadine's POV

Iny miny miney moe, OMIGODS I LOVE A.J BUT I ALSO LOVE KYLE AND HE JUST BROKE UP WITH ARIA BUT ARIA I THINK IS GOING TO DATE A.J BUT OBVIOUSLY HE IS TOTALLY INTO ME. GODS WHY DOES ARIA GET ALL THE GOOD GUYS?!

Aria's POV

I slowly strolled back to our small campsite, noting the fact that Kyle was still missing. He would be back soon…..probably. You never could be sure with children of Hecate. Right now, Kyle was the least of my worries. I needed to somehow tell A.j I was single, but without sounding too desperate. I couldn't just come out and say, "Yo A.j…...I'm single. Broke it off with Kyle. Let's get together. Did you hear I was single?" Gods no.

A.j.'s POV

Aria came back into our little camp area…..alone. What happened? Could I dare to hope….no. She wouldn't break it off with Kyle….would she? Why can't Aria just come up to me and say, "Yo A.j…...I'm single. Broke it off with Kyle. Let's get together. Did you hear I was single?" Titans no. Why would she do that?

Aria's POV

A.j stood up and started walking towards me. This time I didn't stop him.

A.j got close enough to me that I could move my arm just three inches and I would be touching him. Slowly, he leaned his face towards mine. I went along with him, our foreheads touching, and gently pressed my lips against his. It was nothing like I had ever experienced before. His lips were soft, and he held me as though thinking I would disappear. I felt light and airy when he touched me. This was what I lived for. After about 5 seconds, he pulled away. It was a short kiss, but I couldn't be happier. Even Mikayla's faint snore was comforting right now.

Nadine's POV

Aria kissed A.j. I blacked out.

Mikalay's POV

Ha. They think I'm asleep, but I was really only waiting for when A.j and Aria first kissed - Aria had told me that she was planning on breaking up with Kyle, so I knew the kiss would happen soon. Stealthily, I got out my phone and almost took a video of the whole thing, but I thought that would make this beautiful moment seem….fake, artificial.

Aria's POV

As soon as our kiss ended, Nadine passed out. Honestly, I hadn't even realized she was there. Oops. Hehe. Anyways, Kyle appeared out of nowhere and caught her. He gave Nadine some water and her eyes fluttered open and she stood up. "I'm fine," and then Nadine jogged into the woods

A.j's POV

Honestly? The kiss wasn't really all that good. It was completely amazing. I have never been in a situation that had felt so right. I was in love. OMITITANS I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT. I mean, I barely even knew her - what was Aria's last name again? Then I remembered - Feya. A surge of relief settled down on me. I didn't just make an awful mistake.

Aria's POV

Even when we were all working on the quest, I couldn't stop thinking of A.j. I wanted to tell him that that was my first kiss for some reason, but he would probably just laugh at me and talk about how many girls he's kissed and how it was so much better than when we kissed.

A.j's POV

Even when we were all working on the quest, I couldn't stop thinking of Aria. I wanted to tell her that that was my first kiss for some reason, but she would probably just laugh at me and talk about how many boys she's kissed and how it was so much better than when we kissed.

Aria's POV

While we all were talking about the best way to deal with the huntress, I saw a piece of red paper out of the corner of my eye.

I walked over to the tree that it was on, and I grabbed it.

Note:

Oh! So cute! You two finally had your first kiss! Awww. Now I should only kill one of you so you will live in pain for the rest of your life like the hopeless little demigods you are. I used to be a demigod. Where are those happy times, they're so hard to find. Artemis would agree with me….just ask her. Of course, if you bring up my name, she will kill you no matter who you are, but that IS less work for me now isn't it. I try to reach to you but you have closed your mind. So can't you hear me darling, can't you hear me S.O.S. Well, let me go get my arrows ready and my knives sharpened,because there will be blood tonight! XOXO, D.

P.S. That goth one is kinda cute though…..shame for an arrow to go right through that darling face. Love ya!

P.P.S. I love blood and having other people aged it.

End of note.

Dam, this girl was one creepy hunter. Something made me think that this girl wasn't just bluffing about killing A.j tonight, and her aim was good. Very good. Gods no. I feel sick. Is she trying to make a move on my(hopefully) boyfriend.

A.j's POV

If I had to describe Aria after reading that note, it would be….ashen. She literally could have joined the Gray Sisters on their island. Like, the ones with the tooth and eyeball? Kind of helped both of the Perseuses but were more kind of bribed the first time? Oh, nevermind. Well, I'm just saying that Aria didn't look her best. Not saying she didn't look pretty, but there was a frightened look in her eye, like she heard a prophecy, knew exactly what it meant, and wasn't too happy about the outcome. I'd have to ask her about what the note said later.

Later…

"Aria, what did the note say?" I asked gently, which is not how I normally do things, but she was in a fragile state, as if she was about to break like glass. "Rud," Aria said so quietly I asked her to repeat, "her name starts with the letter R-U-D."

I felt tempted to lean in like I had the night before, but I thought, "Too soon." She probably would just get mad at me. Ever since she read that note, it's like she is blocking me out: whenever I show any kind of affection, she turns around and stomps away. If I didn't know better, I would think she was trying to not get close to me.

Aria's POV

I was trying very hard to not get any closer to A.j. If I let my emotions control me, I could endanger the quest. And if A.j were to die….I almost would want to too. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I would find a nice cliff to jump off of. It's awful, I know. But I just honestly don't think that I could live without him. Not when I had found him now.

Kevin's POV (Keith)

I've been thinking. What girl could I date in this awful group. Well, Nadine…..oh poor Nadine…..that girl needs to get a face transplant, her nose is so bad. It looks like she fell face flat on concrete and broke her nose-bridge and never got it fixed. Mikalay…..pretty, but I hate her name. She's out. That leaves Aria. She is certainly pretty enough to be with me, and she has a pretty name. When I'm a king, Queen Aria sounds like a pretty title. Yes, she will do nicely. Now how do I get rid of little emo…

Meghan's POV (author)

Omigods I hate Keith sooooooooooooooo much (anyone remember him as the guy who showed Aria around camp?). If he does anything to A.j, I swear I will rip him apart with my bare hands (which isn't hard considering all I have to do is type, "And Meghan ripped apart Keith with her bare hands, killing him almost instantly after the first hit to the head. He had a long and painful death. How tragic.") I would also like to mention that we are not pushing down girls we are pushing down Keith (some boys and girls who he represents). This last part was just to show how awful Keith really is. If you are like Keith, and you look at girls or boys by just the surface, you are extremely shallow, and I don't know how to put this nicely so I won't: "Go to effin Hades. Eternal punishment for you!"

Well, I think that I've held you up long enough with this little POV by me, so here's the story! (after Lucia's POV, which is a lot shorter than mine, but I felt like explaining)

Lucia's POV (other author)

Okay, first, Nadine is perfect. Second, Mikalay's name is unique unlike _Keith._ Ewww. Third, you will never be a king, much less marry Aria. And last but not least, if you much less lay a _finger_ on A.j, I will murder you with my bazooka.

XOX, L.

P.S. That xox symbolizes a dead face,just like Rudra's except hers sometimes have like a tumorish (just saying not like a disease) thingy

Tyler's POV (if you don't remember him, he's the train ticket seller

No matter how much time goes by, I still remember creepy girl who started screaming at me with a devilish look on her face. I thought she was the Fiend. Man, I still have nightmares. I'm 18! We're not supposed to get nightmares! Don't tell anyone, but I've been sleeping with a little bumblebee nightlight ever since that awful day. Uhhhh…..

Aria's POV

I could barely believe it, but when I asked Mikalay what time it was, she said 1:00AM. Man, I didn't realize it was that late…. I laid my head down on my make-shift pillow (my bag on a rock) and I had a hard time falling asleep. When I finally managed it, I had an awful dream of a certain boy getting shot.

R's POV

Ahhh….I would shoot the boy in the morning. I overheard them talking about traveling to get a new campsite then, so that would be a good opportunity.

A.j's POV

In the morning

Last night, we all decided that it would be the best to move in the morning, when it got light enough for us to see. We were all tired, but slowly, we dragged ourselves out of bed. I was groggy and feeling clumsy today, but I really didn't want to fall while we were walking. That would just make a _great_ impression on Aria.

We walked for about 20 minutes when Nadine yelped at some sort of snake in front of her - it looked poisonous. Unfortunately, that was exactly what I didn't need. Startled by the sudden noise, I started to fall forwards. Looking back, I can remember hearing an arrow whip past my ear, barely missing me. If I hadn't fallen, that arrow would have hit my neck in a certain kill zone.

I was about to make a comment on how relieved I was when I saw everyone rush towards me. Did they think I was hurt? I would love to say that they all crowded around me and told me how thankful they were that I was ok, but they just pushed to the side and swarmed Keith. Aria got out her first-aid set, but I could tell it was too late.

The arrow that had been meant for me hit an unsuspecting Keith right in the chest - quite close to his heart. If it had been an amateur archer it would've been quite easy to fix, but this huntress was skilled: she knew that a barbed arrow, though harder to shoot, was much more effective. If we tried to remove the arrow, it would tear at Keith's flesh and increase the blood lose - definitely killing him.

Before we could do anything, Keith's body seemed to shudder. Everyone was stunned. Carefully, I tried to check Keith's pulse. Nothing.

Keith was dead.

 **So, I hope that you guys liked this chapter! We tried to make it a little bit longer than normal since we haven't updated recently. Chapter 11 will most likely be out by tomorrow since it's the weekend, but no promises. Check our profile for a poll on this story! Review and opinions or just kind of anything that you have a question or comment about for the story. See you next time!**


	10. The Gecko

**Heyyyyyyyyyyy! So, we have another chapter out! Have you guys noticed that there are some chapter that are just love drama and others that are actual uesting? This one is sort of a mix, and some parts (in my opinion) are kind of weirder than we have been before. I mean, I never thought we could beat that whole, "And then I'm gonna go to Starbucks, and hit McD's, and get my nails done at the mall….etc." but this chapter came sort of close. We kind of have an awkward sense of humor, so sorry if you don't find all the jokes funny…...I hope that you like this (long) chapter! :)**

Aria's POV

I looked at the lifeless body lying in front of me. Keith's blondish hair was mixed with a couple twigs that he had fallen on, and his eyes were lifeless. I sobbed - I didn't know Keith that well, but he was still part of our team.

Kyle's POV

I wonder if Aria will still cry for Keith when she finds out he killed Merlot (I only know this for sure because he told me before we left camp this morning). Crap, I said that out loud….

Aria's POV

Omigods! Keith killed Merlot!? I'll kill him! Except for the fact that he's already dead…I'll stab his dead body...Hehe. I'm so mean. Mwahahahahahaha!

A.j's POV

Well, now I don't feel as bad that the arrow that was meant for me hit Keith. Oops. I'll have to thank Nadine later for screaming, otherwise I would've never fallen. (ya, right)

Mikalay's POV

Oh gosh….I mean, omigods. I can't believe Keith is dead. Honestly, I might sound like a jerk for saying this, but I really couldn't care less that Keith is gone (ugh I'm so awful). The only thing that scares me is to think that any one of us could be next. I would care if it were Kyle, A.j, or Aria lying there. Yeah, I didn't say Nadine. She still seems to hate me for being a mortal on a demigod's quest.

Nadine's POV

Gods Mikalay is annoying. She screams about seeing ONE dead body. (ok, to be fair I did scream when I saw a snake but still….) This is a DEMIGOD quest. It's no place for a mortal. She should just leave before I kill her - uh, I mean before the huntress kills her.

Merlot's POV

Today, I am going to do it. I will march up to the demigods on our stupid quest and kill Keith. In my opinion, I feel that I have that right considering that he was the one to kill me. With all my godly - goddessly? - powers I will turn him into a ghost - after all the tortures I have planned for him - Nico diAngelo style. Ya, I've been talking to Nico when he visits his father.

I asked Asher to help me kill Keith, just because I could barely stand to be without him. Not that I was dependant on him, but I enjoyed his company.

Hades said that I could go to kill Keith and then go wherever I wanted to live, but he seemed a little sad. I realized that I was basically the only living person besides Asher that the Lord of the Underworld ever was able to talk to. Hades was pretty awesome, so I said, "Leave you and the underworld? Never. You aren't getting rid of me just yet." Hades tried to look annoyed, but I could tell that he was secretly relieved. Nothing like knowing that one of your best friends is Mr. Supreme Death Dude.

I stomped on up to the overworld and basically just teleported myself to Aria, the leader of the quest.

"First Merlot gets pushed off a cliff, now he is dead too." Mikalay said through her tears.

"Where is Keith?!" I practically screamed at them, not even registering the fact that they were talking about my death.. They all looked extremely surprised to see a dead girl living, but they soon got over their initial shock - well, at least some of them closed their hanging mouths.

"Uh….um, his body is back there if that's what you mean," Aria peeped out at last.

"Oh ok thanks- wait. BODY?!" I screamed at Aria and she grimaced.

Asher gently touched my arm and I felt a wave of - well I'm not really sure - surge through my arm. Whatever it was, I liked it and I calmed down immediately.

"Are you telling me that Keith is dead." I said with a low and violent tone to my voice.

Asher Snapdragon's POV

Omiparents Merlot is scary right now. I really feel bad for Keith's spirit because Merlot - being so chummy with my dad - can basically do anything she wants with him. Fields of Punishment? Yep. Tartarus? Probably. Opera music? Well, I've never know Hades to be THAT mean, but she might be able to manage it. Also, she could probably get Persephone (my mom) to curse him with flowers growing out of his pores. That's nasty on a whole new level.

Merlot's POV

I WILL TORTURE KEITH'S SPIRIT! He is going to regret the day he met me (I know that I regret the day that I met him). I am only mad that I can't kill him while he was alive. Well, I guess it's time to get back to the underworld - I wouldn't want to miss my evening poker game with Hades. #MyLifeIsTheBest (except for the fact that I can't kill Keith)

Keith's POV

AHHHHH! Agony raced through my body, as if vines were growing out of my pores and making me the world's largest Chia Pet. At the same time, god awful opera music rang in my ears. I didn't think death would be this painful. But I also thought Merlot liked me, but those two people in the distance looked like her and Asher flirting. Of course, that could have something to do with me killing her, but I didn't think she was that sensitive. A wise lare once told me, and I took this to heart, "Back in my day, we died all the time and we liked it!" I thought that Merlot would like dying! Ok, maybe I also killed her because she was breaking up with me, but still…

Merlot's POV

Revenge tastes as sweet as the sweetest grapes.

Aria's POV

Ok, what just happened? So Merlot is alive? What? Was she never dead? I'm so confused…..Is Keith actually dead? What? Omigods I have no idea what's going on. And most importantly: who was that smokin' dude with Merlot? (not that I'm saying A.j isn't cute….)

Kyle's POV

Gods, now I wish that I was two guys! Asher Snapdragon(I think was his name) and A.j. Wait. OMIGO- TITANS NO. I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT. REMOVE! DELETE! Fine, I admit it: I'm jealous of A.j. I mean, he got Aria, AKA the nicest, hottest, and basically just the best girl in the world. Not like I'm salty or anything…..nothing like that. I'm a saltine cracker.

Mikalay's POV

Hades,(did you see that? I used Hades!) that guy is hot! Man, I wish I could die if that means I'll meet a guy like THAT. I'll never be that lucky though. I mean, Aaron ws with me before he got with Aria, and he dumped me after about three days. THREE EFFIN DAYS! And at homecoming he said he would love me till the day he died. I know that most high school relationships don't work out in the end, but I thought he would at least give me a chance….But he only tried to make me look bad. Aaron didn't think that I deserved to be popular, so he wanted to make me the lowliest of the low. Irony. I suppose I should kill him. I should use the stinkin awesome scarf I gave aria.

Flashback to what Aaron did:

 _I was standing there right next to the bench near the vending machine - our, Aaron's and my, usual meeting spot. I spotted Aaron walking out of the cafeteria with some of his friends. He smirked at me and cued one of his friends. Was he going to ask me to the next school dance? I really hoped so. This was kind of like what happened when he asked me to homecoming. There is homecoming, and then two days after that is like a closing dance for everyone to just meet up with friends before getting back to the usual school routine._

 _I felt a buzz go up around me, and at first I didn't realize what it was. Suddenly, I saw everyone around me glance down at their phones, but then they quickly looked up. Was it just my imagination, or were they staring - more like glaring - at me? Cautiously, I looked around. A couple guys snickered at me, and I grabbed someone's phone, not even caring who it was._

 _On the screen was a picture of me - sort of. It WAS me in the photo, but it seemed to be photoshopped. I recognized the photo as the one that Aaron and I took together at homecoming. Even though it had just been a picture of him and I before, now I was surrounded by about a dozen guys - all of them kissing my hand and cheek. The caption said, "Who else was there?" I didn't get it at first, but I could see a couple more silhouettes of people in the background. At least 20 people had replied, "Me." And lastly, Aaron's comment was there. "Thanks for cheating on me, Mika. I thought we had something. I really did."_

 _Most people would just say, "Oh, so you cheated on him. Cool." I wish that were the case at my school. If you were a cheater, never expect a date again. Just last week, Kayla went from being the second-most popular girl in the grade to being shunned by everyone. Luckily, I was able to show everyone the actual photo, and people realized that it was photoshopped. The person who sent the text was anonymous, so no one ever knew where the text came from. No one except me._

Irony. Aaron then goes and cheats on Aria. Unfortunately, I bet Aaron somehow managed to weasel his way out of his problems. Except he sent it on the grade group chat. I saw it. Still, I bet he will say that one of his friends stole his phone and typed that as a joke. Poor Aria. But she's happy now…..I wonder if I had told her about what happened that day - she was sick - if she would have gotten with Aaron. Of course, maybe that was better that she did get with him because if she got with a half-okay guy then maybe she wouldn't have left him for Aj. I don't really know though. Either way, I'm happy that my friend found a non-psychotic-murderer-cheater-douchey guy.

A.j's POV

After we got over that whole "Merlot isn't dead….or she is?" thing, we started to look for Nadine, who still hadn't come back after running off. I guess she was just really scared of that snake…..

We had been searching for Naune for about an hour when I first saw her. She was tumbling back over to us with a red mark - was that blood? - on her forehead.

"Whaaaa…." she murmured. I guessed that she had probably lost so much blood that she couldn't think straight. As I got closer to Nadine, I realized that the blood…..wasn't blood. Stuck to her head was a red post-it note. Sure, I wanted to make sure Nadine was okay, but the real question I was wondering was _How can someone put a sticky note on your head without you noticing?_ I mean, did a conversation like this go down?

Huntress: "Oh, hey! Um, I was just wondering if I could stick this note on your head? Not that this being a red sticky note has any connection whatsoever to the person who is killing your teammates, who just so happens to write all her notes on a red post-it."

Nadine: "Yeah, cool. I could just hand it to everyone else and say, 'Yo dis is from R, da huntress dats been killin us.' But that's ok. I'll just let everyone think I'm dying. Sounds reasonable to me."

Huntress: "Perfect."

Nadine's POV

Ok…..I might have looked a LITTLE bit stupid. Kinda sorta really stupid, but maybe our group will believe the truth? Not that it's any less embarrassing, but it makes me look just fragile not ignorant. But I wasn't fragile. I don't even really know why everything happened, but it just did.

I decided to tell everyone else what really happened.

"So, basically I was scared by the snake so I ran into the woods. When I was trying to find my way back, I kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eyes and I knew it was the huntress. She….jumped out at me and I...passed out with fright. While I was out, R wrote the note and stuck it on my head. As I regained consciousness, I started wandering back towards where I thought you guys were - not feeling the note on my head - and here we are."

Everyone stared at me like I was crazy. Whatever. My story did sound kind of weird: how could I not feel that note on my head: Hades, I don't know! Maybe without me seeing it made me forget all about it….?

Aria's POV

While everyone else was listening to Nadine explain what happened for the sixth time, I started to read the actual note.

Note:

WASSUP, GUYS?! How's my favorite quest going? Well, technically that isn't a fair question considering that I know more about your quest than you do. I'll give you a nice little solid hint: Hunters of Artemis, 1994-2014. That should help you out, if not reveal to you completely who I am. Unfortunately, I couldn't kill that one dude you call A.j, but I scored! 500 points for hitting the biggest douche in the group! Sorry….but you go, Merlot! I can just imagine Asher singing you that Shawn Mendes song, "Treat You Better." (that part was just to Merlot) It you guys didn't already realize it, yes I am spelling out my name for you. (you must be thicker than I thought if you haven't gotten that). Aria, this time I'll cut right to the chase. I'm going to win. I always do. And this time, I will not stand in the shadows. I will attack you and your team, so be ready. Yours truly, R. (yes, I have two R's in my name)

End of note.

Well, nothing like knowing that you're about to be attacked. Now, I can worry even more! Yay! I think that I always knew that an attack would be coming, but I didn't know when. R has narrowed down the time frame for me: soon. So, about a week? Unfortunately for us, if this hunter can tell us exactly what she is going to do, she must be pretty confident that she would win. I did not feel confident that WE would win. Actually, I felt like the odds were pretty hopeless, but I didn't tell the team that. It would kind of put a damper on the team moral to go up to them and say, "Well, we are probably going to get attacked soon! And the best part…..there is no way we will possibly win! Let's just start digging our graves right now! I ordered caskets for us all!"

A.j's POV

While we kept walking towards where we thought the huntress's main base was (we just guessed), I couldn't help but get distracted. Aria was walking right next to me and our shoulders kept brushing against each others. Basically, I was in hell because I'm super awkward, but I'm in heaven just because I am with Aria right now.

Our group had kind of divided into tons of small groups: like on a field trip when you go with your whole class but only hang around the people that don't make you want to rip your hair out in frustration. Nadine and Kyle walked together, laughing at something Kyle said. Mikalay walked a couple yards behind them, twisting her hair in deep concentration. I felt bad for her. All this demigod stuff was new to her, and Aria, I guess. She just found out about gods and stuff. And all this violence was new for all of them. I'm used to roughing it. My family was sick of me after like, two days. Kronos got rid of my mom and all the humans on the boat. And after the gods won the war, I had about three seconds to get away from New York. I was running for about what? Three years? I don't even know how old I was.

Tyler's Mom's POV

My poor baby is in a coma. He tried to hang himself, but he didn't get to complete his mission. I read his would-be-suicide note, and he just went on and on about a scary girl with blonde hair - he said she would kill him and take over the world. Was this like an ex-girlfriend or something? I've gotten a few threats from THOSE girls…..well, that would explain a lot.

Aria's POV

Why did I get a weird email about how a lady was going to kill me if anything happened to her son? Ah, whatever. (that sounds like something Chapter 3 A.j would say...along with, "who cares?")

In the distance, I heard a shriek. A.j looked around and yelled, "Get behind me!"

At first, everyone was kind of mad that A.j was basically saying that he was the only one on this quest that could fight. I knew that it was practically true, so I ran behind A.j. #LikeACoward

After I did my best to be the tree that was behind me, everyone started to ask, "Where did Aria go?"

"Not funny guys…..I know that my attempt at hiding was pitiful, but don't joke around about it…...Besides. We have a more important issue to deal with right now: WE ARE UNDER FRICKEN ATTACK!" Ok, we weren't under attack just yet, but I felt like saying that we were.

Right then, a pair of….things…..came out into the clearing. Man, these girls looked weird enough to be Medusa! But there were two of them. And I wasn't a stone statue….at least I don't think so…...I mean, I was frozen with fear anyway so I'm not really sure.

A.j was the first one of us to recover from the initial shock. He walked closer to the monsters, but it wasn't his usual charge of confidence. That worried me A LOT.

"You…...you're the gorgons, right? Like, Medusa's sidekicks? Her posse?"

Apparently, the "gorgons" did not appreciate being called anyone's sidekick. They hissed right along with the snakes that they had for hair. One had green snakes and the other a coralish color.

"We are immortal! You cannot kill us! Does that sound like anyone's "posse" to you?" The thing with coral hair said.

The one with green hair wasn't so bright and asked, "Medusa?"

"Yes, you bambling (-obviously a real word) buffoon!" She looked at us and rolled her eyes. "Some people, am I right?"

The gorgon with green hair - snakes? - tried to come up with a clever reply. Unfortunately, she spent too much time thinking about her word choice.

A.j charged at the green snake lady and ran his spear through her chest. My scarf became heavy, and suddenly I was holding a burger. I sighed, but I didn't want good food to go to waste, so took a bite out of it.. Then I blasted the poor monsters with radioactive McDonald's food. BA BAM! BEHOLD THE CALORIES OF THE BIG MAC! JK….I wish though…

Anyway, I was holding a bow and a sheath of arrows. They were all rainbow. Literally, my hand went right through them unless I concentrated. Not very helpful since I had never shot one beforehand, but I tried. Behind it whizzed a rainbow. It was entirely off, but it fixed itself and hit the first gorgon. Poof. The yellow dust blew away in the winter wind.

"MY SISTER! For that, you shall die." The coral haired gorgon assured us. So we weren't going to die before? I readied my bow and A.j his spear. I fired my bow and he charged. But then…no. No! I had fired straight. And then A.j got in front of the gorgon. He didn't see the arrow. I tried to shout his name but my voice wouldn't work, and neither would my legs. Just as he stabbed the gorgon, the rainbow arrow sunk into his lower left leg. He screamed, and the monster disintegrated.

Meghan (the Great) wanted to put this:

To save A.j, I recited a magical poem I had once heard:

My name is geck.

I liv in sand.

It get real hot.

So this is pland

That wen the sun

Rise up so high

I open mout

I lik my eye

A.j's eyes fluttered open, and he suddenly started crying gently.

"Tha….that was…..beautiful." He said, with tears in his eyes.

END OF PART THAT I (Meghan the Great) WANTED

 **MUHAHAHA CLIFF HANGER SUCKERS! Thanks for reading.**

 **So, I hope that you guys liked this chapter! I would just like to mention that the prt with the amazingly beautiful gecko poem did not actually happen (sadly….Lucia wouldn't allow it). The actual end was when A.j got shot(and it was aria who shot him!). #CliffHanger! Not that anyone is actually reading this (or cares), but ya….well, I hope we get the next chapter out this weekend! I will try my best to stay up ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT to finish Chapter 11, but I'm not swearing on the River Styx. Comment if you guys enjoy the love drama chapters, the quest chapters, or chapters like this that are kind of a mix. :)**


	11. Oops here we are again

**Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Wassup? The sky. Sorry, I'm just kind of weird lol…..I hope that you guys like this chapters, and I appreciate that some people actually read this…..well, yeah…..oh, and of course, the shoutouts!**

 **Shoutouts/dedication:**

 **Angel Cauldwell: thank you so much for following and favoriting this story!**

Nadine's POV

As the others swarmed A.j, I took out the second gorgon. It wasn't easy, but even the immortal monsters can only take so much of me beating them with my Celestial Bronze club.

Aria's POV

I was shocked. I can't believe that I might have just killed my best friend (kinda like how Athena killed Pallas). Everyone frantically gathered around A.j, but to me, it felt like it was all in slow motion. I just couldn't forget the moment that kept playing in my head: I saw my rainbowish arrow sink into A.j's leg. He cried out in pain and collapsed.

As I was crying, I realized that everyone was crying around me: no one was actually HELPING A.j. I quickly ran over to him and put my hand on his forehead. His face was warm but pale. With a quick movement, I ripped off a part of my jeans, turning on leg into jean shorts. I wrapped the thick fabric around the wound in A.j's left leg. Almost instantly, the jean turned dark red with blood.

"I...I don't understand? How can a wound in the leg be fatal to the whole body…?" Mikalay asked with shock and confusion. Honestly, I didn't really know the answer, so I tried to make a logical response.

"Um….well since it wasn't a normal arrow - it was a rainbow arrow - maybe it spread throughout the whole body…? Since rainbows sometimes spread throughout the sky." Only later I would realize that, even though my logic seemed stupid, I was right.

"Yeah….um…...yeah….maybe." Mika said with tears streaming down her face.

The others were trying to comfort each other, but I wasn't paying attention. I was trying to remove the deadly rainbow magic from A.j, but I wasn't sure how to pull it out without causing more damage. I tried to will it out, and I swear it moved.

Even though it was a slow process, I eventually got the original arrow out, but the process wasn't done quite yet. I turned my scarf into a box of bandages and pulled out one. With the powers of Iris, I removed the last bit of rainbow remnants from him. I never knew how useful it was that I could control rainbows. A.j told me to pour some nectar on the gash, and it almost immediately improved.

After I cleaned the cut up, I wrapped it in the bandage. Although the gash was still open, I managed to get A.j up. I gave him my scarf and it morphed into a pair of crutches. He groaned, but I knew we had to keep moving no matter what.

A.j's POV

Why is Aria wearing jean shorts on one leg and normal jeans on the other?

Aria's POV

As we limped a longed, I saw a red piece of paper stuck to a tree. I ran over to it, momentarily forgetting about A.j.

Note:

Yo wassup?! I'm such a lucky little hunter! I didn't realize you guys would start killing each other accidentally (of course because there was that whole Merlot and Keith thing) , and my favorite couple, no less! What a bonus. It feels like I am watching a reality TV Show! "And who will Aria kill next? Find out next time on 'Demigods.'" You are making my job so much easier! It's like Christmas. Except for the fact that my family isn't here. That is probably because I sacrificed them to Artemis when I actually liked her. Oops. No loss though anyway, I didn't like them. You feel me, don't you, A.j. You didn't care when your daddy lost the war, except for the fact that everyone hated you. I love that Aria thinks you will be accepted when you all (hehe maybe hehe) get back to camp. I would be doing you all a favor if I killed A.j. You can't trust him, so just leave him in the woods. I'll finish him off. Your ex-hunter of Artemis (oops did I just give away who I was?), A.

P.s, that was the last letter…..I do hope you kept the other ones.

End of Note

Aria's POV

The remaining four contestants had gathered around me. They had all read the note, and they started backing away from A.j. He gave me a humble face and then looked down at the ground.

"Who…who's your dad?" Mikalay asked him.

A.j muttered something that sounded like, "Fish kabob."

Then, he straightened up and stood the crutches upright and said, "Zeus."

I stared at A.j questioningly, and he gave me a look that said, "Later."

"Um…..but what about the part when your dad lost the war? What was that about?" Nadine asked him.

"Well…...it must have been talking about how he technically lost the war with Gaea but the demigods saved the gods. He has always been bitter about that: thinking that the gods need to be saved by miniscule ants," A.j tried to explain.

The other demigods started to relax, but I just got mad. These other demigods deserved to know….it wasn't even THAT big of a deal.

"A.j you can't-" he cut me off with another deathly look. His eyes flamed gold.

"I know, Zeus didn't want me to talk about how he feels, but you all deserve to know."

He didn't even look like Zeus! How did these people actually believe A.j! His eyes weren't even blue! They were olive(and for some reason gold sometimes)! They were gorgeous…...wait. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE MAD AT A.J! URGHHH! It's hard to be mad at hot pee. I mean, hot people.

Meghan's POV (author and the brains of the operation - got that from A.j)

Omigods. A.j lied. I'm literally gonna kill him. I almost did at the beginning of this chapter, but it's not his time…...yet. Well, back to the story! Blah.

A.j's POV

Well, I lied. Aria hates me. She compared me to hot pee! Of course, she also said I, A.j Castellan, was hot….I think Aria's hot too. She's pretty and nice. I like to talk to her a lot, but I think she might not like me anymore. UGHHHHHH! I wish I was dead. Meghan, go ahead and kill me!

Lucia's POV (other author)

*passes out*

A.j's POV

Man, I wonder what Chiron's doing right now. Hopefully dying a painful death.

Chiron's POV

I hope those demigods I sent out on that quest are dead by now…..I don't want to fill out the paperwork for their return.

Nadine's POV

Omigods Kyle is smokin' hot right now.

Kyle's POV

I miss Aria. Seeing her with A.j is like driving her rainbow arrows into my heart over and over, just for me to find out that I'm immortal so I can always feel the pain. Nadine seems to be into me, but it wouldn't be fair for me to be with her when I like someone else. I used to think that I had no chance with Aria, but now that she seems to be mad at A.j…..well, this could be my opportunity.

We had been walking for a couple of hours after we got the note, and it was getting dark. Nadine was getting tired, so we stopped to rest. A.j went right to bed, but Aria started to make a campfire. When she finally managed to get it started, she sat down on a fallen log and tried to warm herself in the harsh cold. I thought that her hair looked especially pretty with the firelight illuminating it. Even though I knew the fire was emitting the light, it seemed like it was Aria who was glowing.

"Hey." I said.

She was startled so she jumped back and grabbed her sword.

"Wha- Oh, sorry, Kyle. I didn't realize it was you." She said and calmly sat back down, but her shoulders were tense, probably because we used to date.

"Um…..so are you still with A.j?" I asked awkwardly.

Aria put her sword back, but kept her hand on the handle, rubbing the small symbol on it. She sighed and said, "No…..not exactly. I- I broke up with him before he went to bed." She seemed so heartbroken that I almost was mad that A.j hurt her. I also was kind of happy because that means that she was open.

"You know…..I mean, I'm not sure if you do, but if you want to get back together or something then…..we can?" I said the last part as a question, not really confident.

"Um…..sure? " She answered as a question, and I could tell that she wasn't really in love with me, but she also didn't want to hurt me. Even though I was slightly concerned with that, I thought that maybe she would start to like me. I mean, she seemed to think I was funny.

Aria's POV

Kyle was….well….he wasn't as much of a risk as A.j. With A.j, I never knew exactly what was going to happen; with Kyle, I knew he would always like - love - me. But did he even know me? How do I know that it isn't that he just thought I was pretty? Well, Kyle is pretty funny, and I liked it when we were dating…..sort of.

We decided to go on a walk, and Kyle got out a little guitar that me made. Even though it was really embarrassing, he started singing to me about how he knew that I was the one for him from the moment he saw me. Ok…..maybe I had mixed feelings. I know that I didn't feel that way about him, but he was being really sweet.

We decided that it was getting too late, so we headed back to the little campsite. I said that I was just going to be up reading for a little bit, and he nodded and went to bed. I took my book and walked to a little spot in the woods, far from the makeshift camp. Far from all my problems.

I always loved to read because it made me think that all my troubles were gone, and I was just another meaningless character in the story. Most people think of themselves as the main character, but to me, they seem to have a ton of problems. No, I would rather just be the unimportant shopkeeper or the farmer who does menial tasks. Those people weren't important enough to have troubles. Their lives were just standard: what I wanted.

Since I was so caught up in my book, I didn't hear footsteps coming up to me. Until I heard, "Hey." I thought I was completely alone. I jerked around and saw A.j standing behind me. He smiled at me, but I cautiously backed away. A frown spread across his face, but he stepped forward. I couldn't move at all. A.j took another step towards me. If I had wanted to, I could have reached out and touched him: we were that close.

A.j opened his arms and hugged me, kissing the top of my head. He lowered him face so he was looking into my eyes. His eyes were gold. A.j gently pressed his lips against mine. After about 30 seconds, he passionately kissed me. He was tired of being completely gentle, he just wanted us to be together. My lips parted, and kissed him back.

The kiss was nothing like anything before. His lips were soft, and his hair softly tickled my forehead. I pulled back, and his olive eyes seemed to break. They slowly turned into a softer gold than before.

"I….I'm sorry…" I whispered.

"Why?" he asked me.

"Kyle and I got back together…." I lowered my head.

A single tear slithered down A.j's face, but he quickly wiped it away.

"I…...see….." he told me. A.j slowly twirled a strand of my hair between his fingers.

"Goodbye, Aria."

With that, he left. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or distraught. I mean, I didn't want to be a cheater! But I also didn't want to be separated from A.j.

About a week later, A.j still hadn't returned. I was afraid that he was gone for good, but I saw a shadow cross our path while we were walking (is anything happening in this quest besides them walking?). Everyone grabbed their weapons, but I knew it was A.j without even seeing him. I really did miss him. Unfortunately, I was still with Kyle. Sigh. I would have broken up with him that day that A.j and I kissed, but everyday after that he wrote me a new poem about how he loved me. Gross. Even though I thought it was totally weird (since we barely knew each other), it was slightly cute. All I had to do was pretend A.j was writing these poems for me and BOOM, I thought the gesture was the cutest thing in the world.

Keith's POV

THIS OPERA MUSIC IS KILLING ME!

Kyle's POV

This week has been the best week of my life. A.j's gone, so I have Aria completely to myself! Oops. That's mean. My bad. Hehe…

A.j's POV

I stood in front of a shocked group of demigods. Apparently they all thought I was dead. I tried to ignore the disappointed look in Kyle's face, but it was hard to miss. Aria ran up and hugged me. I should leave and return a week later more often. This treatment was great!

"We thought you were dead!" Aria said, crying.

I should probably tell them that it had only been an hour that I was gone, and since my dad is the Lord of Time I made them THINK that it was a week, but what's the fun in that? I also made that hug seem like a hour for just me, when it was only about 25.684 seconds. Yay! Maybe doing all this time stuff would attract my dad,(not zeus) but who cares?(ahhh…..back to chapter 3 A.j) I mean, he hasn't reformed yet…...probably.

I really wanted to reach over to kiss Aria, but I remembered that her and Kyle were still dating…...most likely. Not like I feel like killing someone right now or anything. Or maybe I do…..

Aria's POV

Man, I really wish I broke up with Kyle again…...Now that A.j was there again, I felt weird. Like I ate a firework and now it was going off in my stomach.

I asked Kyle to go with me on a walk again….kind of like how I broke up with him the first time. He seemed to get what I meant and he rolled his eyes.

"Forget it…..bye Aria. And after everything I did for you…." Kyle told me. I could tell he was done, and I felt relieved.

A.j and I just looked at each other, and I could tell we were back together. We were that close.

Kyle's POV

I was NOT done. Someday, Aria will be my wife. Not that I would force her or anything. I just mean that I can tell that someday, she would love me like I love her. Nothing would ever be so right as that. A.j just wasn't the "faithful" type

As we kept walking, I heard a ruffle in the trees and some girls cussing. We all walked over to the sound, and I saw about a dozen girls wearing a silver vest and black boots. They were all SUPER hot.

A girl about 11 stepped forward. Even though she was younger than some, I could tell she was the leader. She had straight black hair and piercing grey eyes.

"I'm Artemis, and these are my hunters." she spoke confidently.

"We are tracking a former hunter of mine who's gone…...rogue." One of the girls informed me.

"Amber! We don't just throw out information like that!" Artemis scolded the girl.

"Oh right….sorry." Came the reply.

"Anyways…..it is true." Artemis confirmed.

"By the way, this is Amber, Scarlet, Meghan, Rachel, Lucia, Kris, Joan, Yhettiana, Cavorna, April, Autumn, and Avordina." Artemis said, pointing each girl out.

Author's POV

I would just like to say that the Meghan and Lucia are not as the authors, but we imagine ourselves as Hunters of Artemis so…..ya….back with the story.

Kyle's POV

All of the girls were stunning, so I just walked up to a random group of girls.

"Hey….did you girls come from Olympus, cause you look like goddesses?" I spouted out the first cheesy pickup line I could think of.

"Ew." Meghan rolled her eyes with disgust.

"Gross." Lucia wrinkled her nose.

"Hey! Don't you think I'm like, pretty hot?" I asked, confused.

The girls glanced at each other and laughed. Then they walked away. Okay...not the response I was going for. But Lucia and Meghan were hoooottttttttt. I had to date one of them, if not both. So, naturally, I followed them.

Meghan's POV (author)

I just want to say that if we have Meghan's or Lucia's POV we will just not put in parentheses, (author). Like right now.

Meghan's POV

Oh, gross! Who does this douche think he is! And he had the nerve to follow us! I'm literally contemplating getting out my bow and seeing how he likes it. Maybe I'll even show him my silver arrows…

Kyle's POV

The two girls continued walked. Hehe…...they didn't even know I was following them! They walked over to a fallen tree and sat down. Meghan's french braided hair sparkled with the Sun, and Lucia's hair has small pieces of snow in it.

Lucia's POV

"Ewww, who does he think he is?" I asked Meghan hoping he heard us.

"Honestly, I think he's just really depressed…...he seems to want us to put his misery to an end by killing him….that's the only logical explanation." Meghan answered loudly. "He's not even cute, so does he really think we'd go for him? And we're maiden Hunters of Artemis! If I go to Artemis she'll kill him."

Meghan's POV

"I think I want some target practice…" I told Lucia.

I quickly took out my dagger and turned around. I threw it near where Kyle was standing, but I didn't want to kill him, so I aimed at his arm. The dagger sank painfully into his arm, but I could tell it wouldn't do any real damage.

"That's just so you know we knew you were there." I told him smugly. I grabbed my dagger from his arm and gestured for Lucia. Quickly, we walked away.

Kyle's POV

Uh oh…...man, they were intimidating. They totally were into me! I mean, why else would they want to kill me? They didn't want to get in trouble with Artemis! Girls who throw daggers? Can you say badass?! Did I tell you I liked that in a woman?

Lucia and Meghan were not through with me…...that's all I know. I'm not even sure if Aria means that much to me anymore.

Artemis's POV

THAT DOUCHE! HE TRIED TO FLIRT WITH MY HUNTERS?! He dead.

Kyle's POV

Why is that scary lady mad at me?!

A.j's POV

While all that Hunters of Artemis drama was going on, Aria and I went into the woods. It would have been super romantic…..except for the fact that halfway to our destination we saw R….I mean, Rudra. Unfortunately, we didn't have our bazookas with us to fight. DAM IT! So, we decided to wait to see what she would do.

The huntress jumped down out of the tree she was in - that meant she landed directly in front of us.

"I just want to talk."

Her words rolled over me, and there was nothing I would rather do than sit down with this hunter and talk about sports, the weather, and basically anything. I realized she was a daughter of Aphrodite, so I steeled myself against her words.

"Don't even try charmspeaking us." I told her, mostly just informing her that I knew exactly what she was doing, and that I was one step ahead of her.

"Ahhh..." she sadly sighed. Unfortunately, she didn't seem too upset because she was still smiling. She looked closer at me. "That's a pretty cool trick you can do with your eyes."

"Well, I would like for you two to come with me to talk….and I wouldn't be a good hostess if I didn't invite you to my house!" She said calmly. And we were forced to obey. Not because she was using charmspeak, but because while she said that she had casually gotten out her sword and was sharpening the point, which looked pretty sharp to me already.

We kind of had to obey, so I got up and put my hand out for Aria to take. We stood up, and I thought that if I had to die today, at least I was holding hands with Aria.

 **I hope that you guys liked this chapter! I'm glad that we were able to get it out so fast…..I guess we were just ultra motivated to write today. And it's not like we're being cocky or anything when we made our characters pretty….not at all….. But, I could just like to say that we are not really cocky people, but pretending to be cocky is just SOOO much fun lol. I hope we can get chapter 12 out later tomorrow, but I'm not completely sure. Comment if you want love drama chapters, questing chapters, or a mix. See ya!**


	12. What's this about potatoes?

**Sorry for that wait…...that's really all I can say besides that this chapter is pretty awful. We kinda copied and pasted the document twice, so you may see where the chapter starts AGAIN later in the chapter. MAKE SURE TO READ THE ENDING AUTHOR's NOTE.**

Aria's POV

As we were walking with the huntress directly behind us, I almost was grateful that Rudra finally decided to attack us. I mean, just waiting there wondering when you were gonna die was so much worse. And we haven't even died yet! That's always a bonus. She led us through a part of the woods I hadn't explored yet, mainly because it was dark and scary and I was afraid of Rudra. Well, staying out of that area had done me SO much good.

A.j's POV

Aria and I were holding hands, and I could feel her hand shake. I tried to act more confident than I felt: for Aria. Potatoes. That was the one word that kept me going. Potatoes. French fries. Mashed potatoes. Baked potatoes. Potato chips. Party potatoes. Cheesecake Factory. Roasted potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Potato soup. Potato salad. Potato casserole. Ahhhh….potatoes are good. Man, I would love to sit down with Aria and eat some potatoes. My dad never had potatoes on his ship. Perhaps that's why I fancy them. I LOVE THE BLOODY POTATOES! Sadly, the potatoes keep me sane. Starch is bad for giants. Yumm.

Kyle's POV

I kept on following the girls through the camp they sat up, but man, they were _fast_! Artemis must have pretty fit hunters. I decided to take. a different approach with them: the friend that later turned into a romantic interest.

Meghan and Lucia sat down on a small bench they had made, and I plopped myself down in between them. They both scooted away from me, but I wasn't really all that concerned.

"Look….I'm really sorry we got off to a wrong start. My girlfriend just broke up with me so I've been kind of crazy recently….I hope that you can forgive me….I'm honestly sorry I was being such a douche."

"Oh…" Meghan started. Lucia finished, "I'm sorry."

"It's just…" Lucia started. Meghan continued, "bye."

With that, they got up and left me sitting alone on the bench. Cold. Did they have no heart? That definitely turned me on. A heart of stone, if anything. Frozen hearts I needed to thaw out. I decided to talk to their fellow Hunters of Artemis to see what I could learn about them…...I would log it in my "Dirt Diary."

After about 15 minutes, I only got that they were daughters of Poseidon. I could get them a present relating to the sea….? I out that they both were deathly scared of potatoes and peanuts, but I'm not sure if that was just one of their friends pranking me. I also learned that…something had happened to them before they became hunters…something that left them scarred for life. Mysterious. I like girls that are mysterious and play hard to get. Cut! Take three. They were both mysterious and played hard to get. I like girls like that. I hope that someday I will marry them. Wait, can you marry two girls?

As I tried to find out what had made them scarred, I got some dirt on them. Apparently, they both had been with guys during their time as a hunter of Artemis. All of the girls told me not to tell Artemis, but what did they really expect? I learned that they guys names were Ty and Shawn. Lucia had dated Ty, a son of Demeter, and Meghan dated Shawn, a son of Zephyros. Lucia was 14. Meghan was 15. I documented all of this in my dirt diary.

Just a bit more information: Meghan joined about a month before Lucia, so Lucia would be two years younger than Meghan, but Meghan stopped ageing at age 15. Lucia had another birthday and turned 14 before joining the hunters. Lucia and Meghan both ran away from home, Meghan was seven and Lucia was five. Though they knew they were half-bloods, they denied it until Meghan was twelve and Lucia was ten; by then, the monsters were overpowering them. Basically, I did thorough research.

#ImAwesome

Meghan's POV (author)

I REALLY want to kill Kyle right now…

Aria's POV

A.j and I just stood and waited while the huntress talked to us. She told us that A.j was hot. She also told us that she liked potatoes and had some in the oven.

A.j's POV

Yessssss! More potatoes for meeeeee! Wait. The huntress…Pudra was it (it's actually Rudra)?…said I was hot? Like potatoes in her oven? Mmmmmm…potatoes. My mom gave me a mister potatoman for my…what? Second?…birthday. I tried to eat him. She stopped giving me toy food after that. I miss her.

END OF WEIRD POTATO STUFF

(jk we couldn't do that to you)

(but seriously though, we're done)

(Sort of)

#ToyDroid (-only the OGPS Potato Squad would get that)

#BrierHeat

Aria's POV

"Yes well, my childhood was very sad," Rudra started. "My parents decided that I should get married to a smelly rich old guy. Ew. Gross. So I murdered them, and then joined the Hunt because I NEVER wanted to get married. Unfortunately, there was this really cute guy, Jeremy, who caught my eye. And I caught his. We started seeing each other in secret since technically I was supposed to be a maiden. I decided that I should leave the hunters, but I was worried about what Artemis would do to me. Without telling anyone, I left. The best part was that I even got to keep my immortality since Artemis didn't know I was leaving so she didn't take it away. Apparently she has to be near me or something to take it away, because I still have it. The bad part is that when she found out I was missing, she started asking the other huntresses. They told her about Jeremy so she killed him. I don't mind, he would have died anyway. No loss. But I was upset at the time. So, after that moment, I have always hated the hunters and pretty much everyone. I do have my eye on a guy right now though…" I didn't like that when she said 'right now' I felt as though she was talking literal. I also didn't like the way she was looking at A.j.

Although I knew that she was bad, I couldn't help but sympathize with her. I mean, I really feel like any girl should be able to join the hunters even without being maidens if they swear on the River Styx that the boy won't influence their hunting skills. I also get why she ran away without telling Artemis. I mean, Artemis had turned one of her best friends into a bear and let people kill her because she was pregnant! And it wasn't even the girl's fault! If I could be with A.j while being a hunter, I totally would go for it.

Meghan's POV

Omigods Kyle is annoying. He is trying to be friends with us, but while hitting on us. What kind of logic is that?! Lucia agreed with me. I wasn't sure whether it would just be better to pretend to be his friend so he would stop bugging me, or just kill him. The latter sounded a lot better at the moment. I complained about this out loud, and Lucia nodded so much, I thought her head was going to fall off.

Kyle came up to us and said, "Hey, girls…..are you sure you don't want to be my friend?"

Lucia snorted and started, "I would rather…" I finished, "jump off a cliff."

I thought Kyle would go away, but he said, "I bet we could be close….as close as you two were with Ty and Shawn."

I laughed. Ty and Shawn were two guys that we used to date. Hades, I JOINED the Hunt to get away from Shawn. Ty and Lucia were dating and then they broke up so Lucia could join the Hunt. I told Kyle as much, and he just looked at me, bewildered.

"Bu…...But Amber said it was while you were in the Hunt!"

"Well…...she lied. Amber has been trying to get us kicked out for a couple months now. Ever since Artemis started favoring us over her."

"And…...and you got a driver's license before you turned 15…?" he said, his confidence crumbling.

"Yes….so that the hunters could use a faster way of land transportation when Artemis' chariot was stolen." I told him.

"My, my…..you really do need to get some better dirt on us." Lucia told him smugly.

Kyle's POV

Man…..all my hard work was for nothing. These girls were clean as a whistle! Wait. I did get that they avoided admitting that they were half-bloods. Why would they do that? I wasn't sure if that was really anything, but it was the best thing - and only thing - that I had at the moment.

Artemis's POV

That douche! I will literally rip each of his bones out one by one for trying to blackmail my huntresses. But honestly, I could get way better dirt than that in a second. Maybe it helps that I'm friends with Iris, who seriously has all the dirt. You'd be surprised at what people say during Iris - or Fleecy - messages. And Amber. Giving the enemy dirt? That's low.

Rudra's POV

DAMMIT! I LITERALLY HATE EVERYONE! Wait. Why am I mad right now? Eh. Whatever. A.J ATE ALL MY POTATOES! I don't really care about anything but killing the hunters. And maybe Aria. And A.j because he ATE MY POTATOES!

A.j's POV

I yawned. This whole kidnapping thing is BORING. Aria was nodding along with everything that Rudra was saying, and it looked like they had been friends since 1st grade. Like, seriously. My dad would've done a better job of making people feel bad for him. Aria almost seemed to be forgetting the enemy here. Rudra brought out her sword and said,

"I guess I'm going to have to kill you now."

"Hey!" Aria yelled, trying to unsheathe her sword. Notice I said trying. She gave up and grabbed her scarf. It turned into the rainbow bow. I instinctively backed away. After all, my last experience with rainbow magic.

"Um, Aria? Wouldn't a sword be better since we are in close quarters?" I asked Aria.

She glared at me but turned her scarf into a rainbow sword.

"Oops. I forgot my sword at the campsite." I grumbled. Aria tossed me her new rainbow sword and I caught it. Instead of heroically charging at Rudra, I yelped. The weird rainbow thing hurt my hand, and when I threw it back to Aria, I saw multicolored blisters on my palm.

"I guess since I'm a daughter of Iris only I can use it and like-" Aria started to explain.

"You guys do realize that I've had multiple opportunities to kill you both, right?" Rudra told us. I wondered why she didn't kill us already, but I assumed that it was because she was more amused at how stupid we were.

Rudra slashed her sword in an arch and almost hit Ari. Aria had backed away just in time, but a bloody gash stained her white shirt. Like anyone would, she shrieked. Defensively, I stepped in front of Aria. Quickly, Rudra backed up. I guess she could tell that I meant business? I'm not _that_ scary. Am I? I mean, my dad is Kronos…I mean, Zeus. Heh...yeah. Zeus.

Aria's POV

Ouch. That wound hurts like Hades. OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH! A.j just stabbed Rudra! I feel like a baseball commentator right now . Man, I'm a wimp. I should be fighting Rudra with A.j! I don't want to interfere because first, Aj looks really hot and second, if I got in the way I would just get hurt, and probably killed.

A.j's POV

Rudra and I glared at each other with mutual annoyance - well, on my part it was more pee-my-pants fright. Yeah…. Oops. Well, I don't feel like I have to go to the bathroom anymore. Jk, don't be silly. I'm not THAT gross. (Or am I?). Well, during Aria and Rudra's staring contest, I struck at her, knocking Rudra down. Aria's an awesome distraction.

 **Okay…five pages. Five boring pages. It wasn't even fun writing them, and it took long enough. We are sorry for the wait on this gods awful chapter, but I will try to get out chapter 13 later tomorrow. (which means next month…...jk maybe not.) I have free time tomorrow that I will spend writing…probably. So, please stick with us as we go through this "phase" of writer's block. Please comment any ideas that you have or want to happen because that would help us A LOT. Thanks! ~demigodstories194 ((aka Meghan and Lucia)**


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